TEL AVIV, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued a personal "last-minute" appeal to Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday to stop rocket fire at Israel and promised to use "Israel's might" to strike Hamas.
"I say to you in a last-minute call, stop it," Olmert said in an interview with the Arab TV station Al Arabiya, adding: "I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to strike Hamas and Jihad."
Also on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discussed the escalation of violence during emergency talks in Cairo.
"Unfortunately there is one address to the situation of the people in the Gaza Strip, this is Hamas, Hamas controls them, Hamas decided to target Israel, this is something that has to be stopped and this is what we're going to do," Al Arabiya cited Livni as saying.
Citing military sources, the country's leading papers reported on Thursday that Israel was preparing a military response to Palestinian rocket attacks in Gaza.
On Wednesday, Palestinian militants fired over 40 rockets and 20 mortar shells at southern Israeli border towns in the largest daily attack since the end of a six-month ceasefire in Gaza six days ago.
Hamas militants said the rocket attack was in response to the earlier killing of three Palestinians by Israel.
Dozens of Israelis were reported to be suffering from shock. The attacks are also reported to have caused extensive damage to residential and commercial buildings.
Military sources were quoted as saying Israeli forces would enter Gaza "to put pressure on the terror organizations" as soon as the weather improved and the Air Force could carry out precision airstrikes.
The Russian Foreign Ministry voiced concern over the latest confrontation between Israel and Hamas. "We consider the rocket fire into Israel from Gaza to be unacceptable. Such rocket fire, as well as the actions of Israeli force affecting civilian Palestinians must be stopped," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry urged the two sides to restore peace as a "condition for survival" of both Israelis and Palestinians, and also called on Israel to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
