Israel is considering the appropriate method with which to counter the arms smuggling and Qassam rocket attacks in the Gaza Strip, and a decision will be made in the coming days on the nature of the action that will be undertaken, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday.

Olmert described the efforts as aiming to "end the launching of Qassam rockets and strike at the stores of weapons and ammunition that have been accumulating in the Gaza Strip," adding that there is significant smuggling going on through the Philadelphi Route, on the border separating the Gaza Strip from Sinai.

"Individuals who we have marked as having links to terrorism or belonging to various terrorist organizations are passing through the Rafah crossing, and according to the agreements [on the regime governing the crossing], they should not be passing there," Olmert said.

The prime minister also warned that, "We must be very sober regarding what is going on in Gaza. The calls for putting an end to the terrorism from Gaza are easy to make and difficult to carry out, but at the same time it is clear to me that we must act." Olmert added that Israel's action will not include an operation in which Israeli forces are permanently positioned in the Gaza Strip.

Olmert told the Knesset committee that in recent months, the IDF killed 300 militants in the Gaza Strip.

However, Olmert was also quick to warn of a pending humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and said that unless it is contained, it can deteriorate into a humanitarian disaster.

He said Israel was not to blame for the situation, and blamed militant groups and domestic infighting among the Palestinian factions for transforming the Gaza Strip into an area of human suffering.

The prime minister did acknowledge that it is in Israel's interest to limit any humanitarian crisis to a minimum.

"Toward this effort [minimizing civilian suffering], we shall open the crossings in order to allow fresh supplies to reach the citizens, we will be prepared to bolster the forces supporting Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas], we will assist humanitarian organizations directly, and we will cooperate with all international parties," Olmert said.

The prime minister noted that there is no basis to the reports that Egypt bolstered its forces along the border with the Gaza Strip. Olmert also responded to MK Yossi Beilin's question regarding his refusal to respond favorably to peace calls by Syria's Basher Assad, saying that he will not talk with Assad so long as he supports terrorist organizations and grants them asylum in Damascus.

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