Israel Considers Broadening Gaza Attack

Israel's military planners have prepared for two more stages of conflict in Gaza that would escalate an already heavy air and ground offensive into a full military occupation of the strip and the toppling of the Hamas movement.

Although Israeli officials reportedly believe they have already secured some achievements in the 12-day war, and despite the mounting toll of civilian casualties, there is still a strong appetite among some to step up the conflict to a much more deadly level.

The prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and his security cabinet were meeting today with army chiefs to discuss the plan.

The first stage of the conflict began with a week-long aerial and artillery bombardment of Gaza, before the second stage late on Saturday night when thousands of Israeli troops marched into Gaza with tanks and armored vehicles.

The troops have faced heavy fighting, particularly in the north, and are now based on the outskirts of Gaza's urban areas, including Gaza City, which is effectively surrounded.

The cabinet may decide to consider the ceasefire proposals being discussed internationally, or it may continue the operation at this level. There is no suggestion yet that Israel is prepared to meet the demands of Hamas, notably the lifting of the economic blockade on Gaza.

But there is also a proposal to begin stage three, which would be to order the troops to fight their way into the heart of the urban areas, bringing with it much higher casualties on both sides. "The plan is to enter the urban centers," one Israeli source told Reuters.

A fourth stage would involve another major call-up of thousands of soldiers and then a full military occupation of Gaza and the toppling of Hamas, the Islamist movement that won Palestinian elections three years ago and now controls Gaza. One Israeli report said that fourth stage could last several months, even up to a year.

Israeli army officers have been quoted as saying that they have used enormous firepower in Gaza since the ground offensive began in order to protect their troops.

"For us being cautious means being aggressive," one unnamed officer told the Ha'aretz newspaper. "It will take many years in order to restore this area to what it was before. When we suspect that a Palestinian fighter is hiding in a house, we shoot it with a missile and then with two tank shells, and then a bulldozer hits the wall. It causes damage but it prevents loss of life among soldiers."

Some in the Israeli cabinet favor continuing the fight until Hamas is toppled, among them the deputy prime minister, Haim Ramon, and Eli Yishai, another deputy prime minister. Yishai said his goal was "to flatten Gaza so that they don't mess with us any more". "I hope that this operation reaches its conclusion with great achievements and with the crushing of terrorism and Hamas," he said.

Moshe Arens, a former defence minister and MP with the rightwing Likud party, also argues in favour of ordering the Israel defence force (IDF) to continue the fighting. "The IDF will lose if it does not win, and Hamas will emerge as the victor," he wrote in Ha'aretz.

He said a ceasefire now might allow Hamas to rearm in future, in the same way Israel fears Hezbollah has rearmed since the war in Lebanon two years ago. "The IDF must continue to pursue the mission it has been assigned and put an end to the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip."

Others, including Ehud Barak, the defence minister, apparently favor a ceasefire now. Barak was in favour of a French proposal in the first week of fighting to call a temporary ceasefire and he has reportedly spoken in private against continuing the ground operations.

The concern for Israeli officials is that Hamas might continue to fire rockets into southern Israel, that it might rearm, or that it might simply gain by surviving the Israeli offensive. "Hamas, of course, will claim victory by merely surviving," wrote the editor of the Jerusalem Post, David Horovitz. "And in this confrontation, rhetoric and perception are anything but marginal."