Israel says no large-scale response in Gaza for now

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday ruled out for now a broad military offensive in the Gaza Strip, a day after Hamas militants fired a barrage of rockets and declared an end to a 5-month-old cease-fire.

Israel warned, though, that it would take whatever steps it deemed necessary to prevent future attacks.

“All options are on the table,” said Miri Eisin, a government spokeswoman. “There will be no immediate wide-scale response, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be one later on.”

Olmert met with top military and security officials to devise a response after Hamas fighters said they had fired nearly 100 Kassam rockets and mortar rounds Tuesday, as Israel celebrated Independence Day. The Israeli military said fewer than 15 projectiles were fired and that no one was hurt.

Even before the Hamas attack, Israeli forces were authorized to carry out “pinpoint” actions, including airstrikes targeting militant leaders or rocket squads -- a tactic employed regularly before Hamas and Israel agreed to a cease-fire in November.

On Tuesday, the military wing of Hamas declared the truce to be over, though representatives of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government called immediately for a restoration of the cease-fire.

Egyptian security officials in Gaza were in talks with members of the various Palestinian militant groups in an effort to get the cease-fire reinstated.

The armed groups said they would be willing to restore calm if Israel halted military actions in Gaza and the West Bank and committed itself to the truce. The Palestinians have sought to extend the truce to the West Bank but Israel has refused, saying the Palestinians have not yet complied fully with the Gaza cease-fire.

Hamas said the barrage came in response to the killing of nine Palestinians by Israel during operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the weekend. It accused Israel of essentially ending the truce.

Israeli spokeswoman Eisin said Hamas was “trying to have their cake and eat it too” by launching rockets while governing as part of a coalition with the mainstream Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

In another matter Wednesday, the Israeli comptroller recommended that the attorney general investigate whether Olmert improperly used his influence in a previous government post to help a company represented by one of his friends.

The recommendation by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss comes as Olmert is politically weak and already under investigation in connection with his role in the sale of a state-owned bank in 2005.

Olmert has denied the allegations against him. He is also bracing for the release next week of an interim report by a government panel that reviewed the performance of political and military leaders during last summer’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

ellingwood@latimes.com