Israel says bombs Hamas targets in Gaza City

GAZA, May 19 (Reuters) Israel said its aircraft struck two Hamas weapons' depots in the Gaza Strip today as top officials weighed proposals for broader action to stop rockets being fired at nearby Israeli towns.

Palestinians said the Gaza City targets were metal foundries with no connection to the ruling Hamas movement.

Israel's bombing campaign against Hamas has killed at least 14 Palestinians, 12 of them militants, since Wednesday.

At least 49 Palestinians have been killed in nine days of fierce internal fighting verging on civil war between Hamas Islamists and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told foreign ambassadors on Friday the government might decide on further action within days. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet will hold a regular meeting on Sunday.

Gaza's streets are currently divided by checkpoints. Rival fighters have placed snipers on rooftops and many Gaza residents remain holed up at home.

Hamas has accused Israel of conspiring to aid Fatah in a power struggle for control of Gaza, which Israeli troops and settlers quit nearly two years ago.

Most of the dead in the factional fighting have been on the Fatah side, but U.S. and Israeli security officials said they suspected Hamas was downplaying its own casualties.

''President Abbas will go to Gaza in the coming days to stop the fighting,'' said Abbas aide Saeb Erekat. A previous planned visit by Abbas to Gaza was called off due to security concerns.

In response to the intense Israeli air assault, Hamas's armed wing has threatened to resume suicide bombings in Israel.

A Hamas bomber last struck in Israel in 2004.

''If they will resume suicide bombings, we will retaliate with a siege on Gaza,'' a senior Israeli official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The official said a proposal under review by top Israeli policy makers called for Israel to respond to any suicide bombings by sealing all of Gaza's crossings.

''It's very delicate. We are aware of the potential ramifications,'' the official said.

The army said at least one rocket fired from Gaza landed in Israeli territory this morning, causing damage to a home but no injuries.

REUTERS RC DS1322