THE death of a Palestinian toddler last night shattered hopes of a lull in rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, as Israel declared it was ready to "significantly expand" its military campaign, the main objective of which was to destroy the "war infrastructure" of Hamas.
With the region's leaders pressing for a ceasefire, several rockets were fired from Gaza while Israel struck the headquarters of the Hamas Prime Minister and warned of a "second phase" in its offensive.
The 18-month-old boy, killed in a strike on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, was one of six deaths yesterday bringing the Palestinian death toll to 52 since early last Thursday (Australian time), with another 460 wounded.
Israeli warplanes earlier hit two media buildings in Gaza City, injuring at least eight journalists, including one who lost his leg.
They also flattened Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's three-storey office building, though he was not in it at the time.
Israel's Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein told The Australian Israel had a clear strategy. "We are executing a well-planned operation to bring about quiet to the south of Israel," he said. "The main goal is to destroy the war infrastructure of Hamas and to threaten the heads of Hamas."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night told his weekly cabinet meeting that Israel was ready to dramatically "expand" its military campaign.
"The army is prepared to significantly expand the operation," he said. "The soldiers are ready for any activity that could take place." The Israeli military appeared to take over the frequencies of the radio stations of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group to broadcast a recorded Arabic-language warning to Gazans.
"Hamas is playing with fire and gambling with your fate," said the message, which was broadcast every five minutes. "The Israel Defence Force is moving toward the second phase of its operation. For your safety, you should stay away from Hamas infrastructure and personnel." The message did not say what the "second phase" was, but 75,000 Israeli troops were massed near the Gaza border awaiting an order to invade.
Israeli Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon said Israel had to be prepared to widen the operation if militants did not back down.
However, British Foreign Secretary William Hague last night said a ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel much international sympathy and support.
Israel said it had hit 800 targets as the new Gaza offensive entered its fifth day. Israel said Hamas had fired more than 160 rockets on Saturday. The IDF said no rockets had been fired into the Jewish state after 9pm (local time) on Saturday, although by 7.30am there were reports of alert sirens in the south of the country.
The lull in attacks from Gaza coincided with a regional push for a ceasefire led by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who said in Cairo his government was in "vigorous" communication with Israel and the Palestinians.
"There are some indications that there could be a ceasefire soon," he said in a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal was also in Cairo for talks. The conflict began after Israel assassinated the military commander of Hamas, Ahmed Jabari. That killing followed several weeks of rocket fire by Hamas into southern Israel.
The Israeli army said 800 targets in Gaza had been hit, many being rocket launchers. "We've caused great damage to the arsenal of weapons," Israeli Defence Forces spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich said. She said the IDF had intercepted more than 230 rockets fired from Gaza with its anti-missile Iron Dome system, which yesterday took down two rockets near Tel Aviv.
