RAMALLAH, West Bank, 5 March 2008 — Israel said it would return to Hamas-ruled Gaza if necessary as it mounted new airstrikes yesterday on the Palestinian territory after Hamas members fired more rockets at a nearby Israeli town.

Israel pulled its settlers and troops out of Gaza in 2005, and last June, Hamas members violently seized control there. Responding to persistent Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel, the military launched an offensive last week that, Palestinian officials, say has killed more than 120 in Gaza. An Israeli civilian and two soldiers also have been killed.

“We cannot afford this kind of extreme Islamic state controlled by Hamas,” Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told foreign diplomats in a meeting, according to a ministry statement released yesterday. Israel evacuated Gaza “not in order to come back, but we might find ourselves in a situation where we have no choice,” Livni said.

Livni did not elaborate, but the ministry later said she was referring to military incursions into the coastal strip.

The violence persisted even as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who arrived in the region yesterday, appealed to Israelis and Palestinians to resume negotiations.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who controls a West Bank government that rivals Hamas’ Gaza regime, called off talks with Israel on Sunday to protest the exceptionally high death toll from the latest military operation in Gaza.

We Won’t Let Hamas Win: Rice

Speaking at a joint news conference with Rice in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abbas said “peace and negotiations are our strategic choice” but fell short of announcing a resumption of talks.

“I call on the Israeli government to halt its aggression so the necessary environment can be created to make negotiations succeed, for us and for them, to reach the shores of peace in 2008,” Abbas said.Israel pulled its ground forces out of Gaza on Monday while continuing air assaults against sustained Palestinian attacks.

But Israeli leaders have signaled that a broad invasion of Gaza is in the works to halt rocket fire that is striking closer to Israel’s center.

Israeli forces launched several air and ground strikes on rocket squads and Hamas installations early yesterday, killing one member, Hamas said.

The body of a Palestinian was also found near the Gaza-Israel border. Medics said it was not clear when the man was killed.

The Gaza bloodshed has illustrated the huge challenges facing the US-sponsored peace push.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas have set a December target for a peace agreement. But with Hamas firmly in control of Gaza, it remains unclear how any deal can be carried out.

The violence has transformed Rice’s previously scheduled mission from nudging the sides toward progress in peace talks to rescuing the negotiations from collapse. Although Abbas has had no power over Gaza since Hamas seized control, the high death toll, which included dozens of civilians, made it difficult for him to continue the talks.

Rice called for the resumption of peace talks as soon as possible, saying they were necessary to counter Hamas’ influence.

“What we are trying to achieve is not easy ... but I do believe it can be done. We need very much for everybody to be focused on peace,” she told the news conference with Abbas.

Referring to Hamas and its opposition to peacemaking, she said: “We won’t let them win.” Rice also said Israel should make “a very strong effort to spare innocent life” in Gaza.

Hamas Slams Rice Visit

The Hamas movement slammed Rice’s visit to the region describing it as “ominous”. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement that Rice’s visit “aims at providing more support for Israeli massacres and siege on Gaza in addition to covering up crimes.”

Barhoum stressed that her visit was “unwelcome.” He added: “We do not have high hopes from the visit and we consider the American administration an accomplice in the crimes against our people and specifically in the latest massacres in the Gaza Strip.”

He called on Arabs and Islamists to continue their campaigns to pressure their governments to end their “dreadful silence and to adopt courageous steps in boycotting and exposing (Israeli) occupation.”

The Hamas spokesman urged Abbas to “reject all American pressure and adopt a stronger and firmer stand, severing all negotiations.”

— With input from agencies