The Israeli military is ready for a widescale ground operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip if the government decides to approve it, the army chief of staff said on Wednesday.“The army is ready for a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, but it will depend on a decision by the political echelon,” General Gabi Ashkenazi told army radio. “If needed, we will be ready to act.”On Tuesday, Defence Minister Ehud Barak repeated his warning that Israel would eventually have to launch an extensive operation in the territory where Hamas seized power in June to halt the daily firing of rockets and mortars from the coastal strip.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been under increasing pressure to launch a vast military operation inside Gaza, but said in an interview last week he would take his time in deciding how to deal with the territory.
The army has increased the scope of its raids in the territory over the course of the past two weeks. This came after Barak authorised targetting militant structures across Gaza, including manned Hamas positions, instead of focusing only on rocket-launching cells and infrastructure as previously.