At this point, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has not approved any ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. Officials said Olmert would discuss the issue with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Oct. 5.

"Terrorism in Gaza can be dried up only by a military and political plan," Knesset member Ephraim Sneh, a former deputy defense minister, said. "We have to do things that are not routine."

Officials said the military hopes that Olmert would approve an Israeli operation in mid-October after the Jewish holiday of Tabernacles. They said the military envisions a month-long invasion of Gaza that would be similar to the operation in the West Bank in 2002.

"We will have to find a military means to reduce the rocket fire on Sderot," Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz said, "for example a more continued and deeper ground action. We are holding consultations about this."

So far, the military has renewed daily air strikes against suspected Fatah and Hamas weapons arsenals in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, the air force struck a Hamas-owned building near Khan Yunis said to have been used for the manufacturing and storage of rockets. Hours later, an Israeli air-to-ground missile was fired toward an Islamic Jihad cell that was said to be responsible for missile attacks on Israel.

"Prior to the attack on this [Hamas] terror facility in order to ensure the safety of civilians in the area, the Israel Defense Forces warned the population not to stay in structures that are used by terrorist organizations for storing weaponry," the military said. "Terrorist organizations operate from within civilian population, while cynically exploiting uninvolved civilians and using them as human shields, exploiting their homes to store weaponry and launching rockets at Israeli towns from populated areas."

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