Israel vows to continue army’s offensive in Gaza

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday he will push ahead with the army’s wide-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip, saying the fight to free an abducted soldier and stop militant rocket fire will last for a “long time.”

The 12-day-old operation has caused widespread destruction in Gaza, left 51 Palestinians dead and led to international complaints that Israel has been using excessive force.

Despite the offensive, militants launched three rockets into Israel on Sunday, wounding one person in the town of Sderot and damaging a house. Also, militants linked to the Palestinians’ ruling Hamas party maintained their refusal to free Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was captured in a June 25 raid, or even reveal his condition.

Speaking to the Israeli Cabinet, Olmert counseled patience.

“We’re talking about a war that will continue for a long time, and it is complicated,” Olmert said, according to a participant in the meeting. “This is a war for which we cannot set down a timetable, and we can’t say how long it will continue.”

The Cabinet expressed unanimous support for the military action in Gaza and Olmert’s refusal to negotiate with the militants, who have demanded the release of 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for information about Shalit, 19.

Israeli security officials told the Cabinet that the offensive, the army’s largest operation in Gaza since Israel withdrew from the territory last summer, is likely to force the militants to scale back their demands, according to the participant in the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed to the press.

But Palestinians are widely supportive of the militants’ actions. A poll released Sunday shows that 77 percent of those questioned back Shalit’s kidnapping and 67 percent said they support more abductions. Sixty-nine percent said the soldier should be released only in exchange for prisoners.