The Israeli security cabinet approved Saturday evening at a meeting called by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defense plans in response to the Qassam rocket offensive against Israeli towns over the weekend.

Officials who took part in the meeting said that operations that will be undertaken in the coming hours and days are designed to ensure that the rocket fire will not be repeated, local newspaper Haaretz reported in its on-line edition.

In the initial stage, the army will resume targeted killings and indefinitely seal off the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

A cabinet statement said, "The response will make it clear that Hamas, as well as other terror groups and the Palestinian Authority, will pay a very heavy price."

Sharon demanded the use of artillery fire against armed groups in Gaza, something Israel has avoided in the past.

Government sources said that the army has no intention of shelling Palestinian population centers, but will fire into open spaces from which the Qassams are launched.

In the meeting, Sharon expressed opposition to an IDF ground incursion into Gaza, arguing that Israel did not disengage from Gaza in order to reenter it. He said military responses will involve fire from a distance, from both land and air, for the next few days until the cabinet reconvenes.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out an air strike on two vehicles driving in Gaza City on Saturday. Three Hamas members were killed and nine other people were wounded, Palestinian doctors and Hamas officials said.

IDF troops also began amassing along the northern Gaza Strip border on Saturday, threatening military action if Qassam rocket strikes continue.

Meanwhile, Palestinians continued to launch Qassams at Israel on Saturday afternoon after the air strike. Three rockets landed in Sderot, the shrapnel wounding one person lightly.

Source: Xinhua