Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Tuesday that Israel would go ahead with its military operation in the Gaza Strip in order to rein in the further arming of Palestinian militant groups and to stop them from attacking Israeli citizens.

During a visit of the Southern Command, Peretz said that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would continue to operate against weapons smuggling if needed, but would not reoccupy the Gaza Strip, Israel 's newspaper Ha'aretz reported.

"We have no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip," Peretz was quoted by the paper as saying.

"These operations are designed to deal with the immediate threats and the process of strengthening (of militant organizations) which is taking place," said Peretz.

Early Tuesday morning, the IDF withdrew from the Philadelphi Route after a week-long operation, during which troops uncovered at least 15 weapons smuggling tunnels running under the narrow strip along the Egyptian border.

Peretz hoped that Egypt would help to prevent weapons smuggling, said the report.

Despite the army's stepped-up presence, three more rockets were launched from Gaza. Two of them landed in Sderot, damaging two vehicles and causing a number of residents to go into shock.

On Monday, seven Palestinians were killed and some 35 others injured in a clash between armed militants and IDF troops in the northern Gaza Strip. At least four of the dead were Palestinian militants and one was a senior member of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).

Source: Xinhua