JERUSALEM, Aug 10: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak admitted on Sunday that even a large-scale Israeli invasion of Gaza would not stop militant attacks on Israel, saying he prefers the current truce instead.

Barak has often said that an Israeli invasion is nearing, but in an interview with Channel 10 TV, he indicated even a large-scale invasion would not stop Hamas rocket attacks. Instead, he said, a seven-week-old truce is effectively halting the barrages.Barak said even if Israeli forces go into Gaza, afterward “we would have to achieve a truce, and we would have to deal with the same parties as before.”

Even if Israeli forces “stay there two years and destroy the Hamas regime down to the last office and the last activist,” he said, in the aftermath “you (Israel) control another people against their will, and the Palestinian people, when they compare the two, will choose Hamas ... and not those who talk” peace, a reference to Hamas rivals in the moderate Fatah, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas.Hamas overran Gaza last year, expelling forces loyal to Abbas.

Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, withdrawing its military and taking down 21 settlements, expressing the hope at the time that its pullout would end the rocket fire. However, according to Israeli military figures, since 2005, more than 6,000 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza at Israel.

Barak said the Israel-Hamas truce, which began June 19, has reduced rocket fire from Gaza from hundreds to just a few. He said he hoped the truce would last a year. Before the June truce, Palestinian militants pelted southern Israel daily, sometimes with dozens of rockets and mortars, disrupting the lives of tens of thousands of Israelis.

Many clamoured for an Israeli invasion to stop the barrages, and Barak frequently announced that such a ground operation was just a matter of time.

In previous years Israel has sent ground troops into Gaza to stop rocket attacks, but the relief has been temporary. Despite inflicting heavy casualties and causing severe damage, Israeli forces were able to stop the rocket fire only as long as they were in Gaza.—AP