Israel weighs wider Gaza incursion to stop rockets

JERUSALEM, Oct 1: Israel is weighing the possibility of stepped up military action in the Gaza Strip to halt rocket fire at the Jewish state, the Israeli army chief said today.

''We will have to find a military means to reduce the rocket fire on Sderot,'' Major-General Dan Halutz told Israel Radio, naming the southern Israeli city frequently struck by rockets fired from Gaza.

Asked what more the army could do, Halutz replied: ''For example a more continued and deeper ground action ... we are holding consultations about this.'' Halutz was interviewed hours after Israeli forces killed a militant and wounded three in a Gaza air strike, the latest step in an offensive launched in the coastal strip since gunmen captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive.

The latest air strike came hours after two rockets fired from Gaza slammed into the yard of a home in Sderot, wounding one person.

REUTERS