JERUSALEM, Dec 21: Israel threatened on Sunday to launch a major offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip as violence simmered around the impoverished territory days after the end of a truce with the Islamists.

The two frontrunners in the race to become prime minister after a snap election in February both vowed to topple Hamas, which has run Gaza since violently seizing power there in June 2007.

“Israel must topple the Hamas rule in Gaza and a government under my command will do just that,” Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who leads the Kadima party that heads the government coalition, was quoted as saying by Israeli media.

“Israel must react when it is fired upon, must re-establish its force of dissuasion and stop the rockets.” Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud party which is currently leading opinion polls ahead of the February vote, echoed the sentiment.

“In the long run, we have no choice but to topple Hamas rule,” he was quoted as saying by the Ynet news website as he toured the southern Israeli town of Sderot.

“Right now we have to go from passive response to active assault.” Senior defence officials said after the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel was preparing to respond to continuing rocket strikes from the besieged Palestinian coastal strip.—AFP