Israel warns of 'fierce' response against Hamas

Israel on Sunday warned of "fierce and disproportionate" response against the Hamas as it accused the Islamist movement of firing rockets on the Jewish states' southern communes.
 
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said Tel Aviv would not agree to return to the old rules of engagement in Gaza. He vowed a "fierce and disproportionate" response against Gaza militants if they continued to fire rockets on Israel's southern communes.
 
"We will act according to new rules that ensure we will not be dragged into an incessant shootout that prevents us from living normal lives in the south," the Israeli premier said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting.
 
"We've said that if there is rocket fire against the south of the country, there will be a disproportionate Israeli response to the fire on the citizens of Israel and its security forces," Olmert was quoted as saying by local media reports.
 
There have been sporadic rocket attacks by militants on southern Israeli communities and several Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip since a truce came into effect on January 18, following a twenty-two day of massive Israeli offensive in the Hamas ruled coastal territory.
 
In a fresh upsurge in violence that demonstrated the fragility of the two-week old ceasefire, four rockets were fired today on Israel's southern areas, with one falling between two kindergartens. However, there were no casualties in the rocket attacks.
 
Hamas has not taken responsibility for any of the new attacks, which have been claimed by smaller militant groups.
 
Israel, however, has said that it holds Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since seizing power in June 2007, responsible for all attacks emanating from Gaza.

Israel's infrastructures minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, called for an immediate response to the rocket attacks. "We need to respond severely and immediately... Hamas must pay for this," Ben-Eleizer told Army Radio.
 
Sunday's attacks follow a rocket attack yesterday on the southern city of Ashkelon. Palestinian militants have fired rockets into Israel and killed one soldier in a border attack, while Jerusalem has conducted retaliatory strikes and pounded tunnels, it claimed.
 
Hamas declared victory following the ceasefire but its leaders have been in hiding due to Israeli threats that it will respond to attacks with targeted assassinations.
 
Meanwhile, Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday asked Turkey to respect relations between the two states, after Tayyip Erdogan stormed off the stage in Davos over a heated debate on Gaza.
 
"We enjoy important strategic relations with Turkey, which is why I expect Turkey to show respect vis-a-vis Israel despite the demonstrations on the street and the very hard images aired about Gaza," Livni told public radio.
 
Livni, whose centrist Kadima party is trailing in opinion polls ahead of a general election on February 10, said differences with Turkey could be repaired. Turkey is one of the few Muslim nations to have relations with the Israel.
 
"Hamas as well as Iran constitute a problem for all the countries in the region," she said.
 
Erdogan on Thursday stormed out of a debate on the Gaza war at the Economic Forum meet in Davos after a clash with Israeli president Shimon Peres. He said Israel committed "barbarian" acts in the Hamas-ruled territory.
 
Predominantly Muslim, non-Arab Turkey has been Israel's main ally in the region since 1996 when the two signed a military cooperation agreement, which was resented by Arab countries and Iran.