JERUSALEM: The Israeli security cabinet voted Wednesday to pursue an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, while leaving open the possibility of a military offensive should the truce talks fail.
"The security cabinet decided this morning to support Egyptian efforts to achieve calm in the south and end the daily targeting of Israeli civilians by the terrorists in Gaza," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the prime minister.
"In parallel the security cabinet instructed the military to continue its preparations in the unfortunate event that the Egyptian track should prove to be unsuccessful," Regev said.
The decision, after hours of deliberations, essentially left the Israelis in waiting mode despite public pressure for immediate action to halt the Palestinian rocket and mortar fire that plagues southern Israel.
Violence continued even as the cabinet met: Militants fired mortars from Gaza, and three Palestinians were reported killed in subsequent Israeli strikes, including a 9-year-old girl.
The girl, identified as Hadeel al-Smeiri, was hit by a tank shell in the backyard of her home near the border fence east of Khan Yunis, one of her relatives told The Associated Press. A militant belonging to Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza, and a 60-year-old Palestinian civilian were also killed in Israeli strikes, a Gaza medical official said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army had fired at squads organized to fire rockets and mortar shells. She said that the army had no knowledge of a girl's having been killed but that if a child had been hit, it was because the militants were operating in a populated area. "We only aim at armed men," the spokeswoman said.
Israel carries out frequent air and ground strikes and small-scale incursions into the small coastal territory to try to contain the rocket and mortar fire, which has killed four Israeli civilians so far this year. Many here believe that a broad military offensive is ultimately inevitable; Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak both threatened over the weekend that one was close.
For now, however, the preference is for the Egyptians to try to broker a cease-fire that fulfills Israeli conditions. Those include a total cessation of all attacks from Gaza, an end to arms smuggling into the territory and some progress toward the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli corporal who was captured and taken to Gaza in June 2006.
Hamas has demanded an end to all Israeli actions in Gaza and the easing of a yearlong economic blockade of the territory as part of any cease-fire deal.
Israeli officials say that some sanctions could be lifted, once there is calm.
There is concern in Israel that Hamas will exploit a truce period to build up its strength. But there is also reluctance to order a full-scale offensive, which could prove bloody and inconclusive.
Of the 12 voting members of the security cabinet, 8 were in favor of pursuing the cease-fire option and 4 abstained. If there is to be a broad military operation, officials want to be able to say that they exhausted all the other options first. Israel also fears that a premature rejection of the cease-fire effort could upset its relations with Egypt, an important regional ally.
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