Israel's Military Demands Decision on Gaza

Israel's military, encountering fresh Hamas threats, has
urged the government not to maintain a limited ground troop presence in the Gaza Strip.

Officials said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz has demanded that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz either expand the current military operation in the Gaza Strip or order a withdrawal. Halutz, officials said, has argued that a static force in the Gaza Strip would result in Israeli casualties.

"We can't remain in a stationary position for much longer," a military source said. "We're either inside and fighting or outside the Gaza Strip."

On Monday, several elite battalion units, backed by 50 main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers, penetrated the northern Gaza Strip as part of Operation Summer Rain. The incursion took place three days after Olmert and Peretz blocked an attack on Bet Hanoun, a town in the northern Gaza Strip regarded as the launch pad for Palestinian missile strikes against Israel.