TEL AVIV -- Israel's military has been ordered to limit its response to Palestinian mortar attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Military sources said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon was ordered by the government to limit the military's response to the intensification of Palestinian mortar attacks on Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip. The sources said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon does not want a massive Israeli military operation that would disrupt the Palestinian elections, scheduled for Jan. 9.

Over the last two weeks, Palestinian gunners have intensified mortar and rocket attacks on civilian and military targets in the Gaza Strip. The gunners have also fired Kassam-class short-range missiles toward Israel. So far, about 5,100 mortars have been fired by Palestinian gunners in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli-Palestinian war began more than four years ago.

[On Thursday, Israeli infantry, armor and air units operated against Kassam-class short-range missile cells in Khan Yunis. Three Palestinians were said to have been killed.]

The sources said Ya'alon has discussed with senior commanders the prospect of a military operation to halt Palestinian mortar attacks. They said the conclusion was that any comprehensive operation required mobilization of the reserves.

Brig. Gen. Gadi Shamni, a leading Israeli commander in the Gaza Strip, said the military has formulated a range of options to halt the shelling of Israeli communities in the area. Shamni said one option was the capture of Palestinian Authority areas in the Gaza Strip.

But the government has rejected a reserve mobilization. The sources said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was planning a reserve call-up in mid-2005 to carry out the withdrawal of the military from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank and the evacuation of their 10,000 Israeli residents. Military sources said Southern Command has presented a plan for the halt in mortar attacks. They said the plan calls for the capture of large areas of central and southern Gaza Strip and a house-to-house search for insurgents, mortars and rockets.

Southern Command has not been alarmed by the mortar attacks, the sources said. They said mortars have incurred virtually no casualties over the last few weeks.

A greater priority, the sources said, was Palestinian attempts to infiltrate Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip. Other threats included the digging of tunnels under military outposts and Israeli communities as well as ambushes of Israeli motorists.

For his part, Sharon has maintained that the government has not placed any restrictions on the military's effort to fight Palestinian insurgents.

He told military brigade commanders on Wednesday that Israel would not concede in what he termed the war against terrorism.

"There is no restriction by the political leadership on the war on terrorism," Sharon was quoted as telling the commanders. "This is your principal mission. While it is the Palestinians who must deal with terrorism, as long as they do not eliminate the terrorist infrastructures, the IDF will do so. There will be no restriction on you as long as the Palestinians do not eliminate terrorism, and this has been made clear to the world leaders with whom I have spoken."