Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that the military operation in the Gaza Strip will be over after the goals are achieved, Israel's local media Ynet news reported on its website.

Olmert emphasized during the cabinet meeting Sunday morning that Israel Defense Forces has no intention of staying in Gaza or occupying Gaza.

"The operation in Gaza has one objective - reducing the number of Qassam rockets fired into Israel and blocking terror attacks against the citizens in southern Israel," Olmert said.

"This is the objective and it is the only one. This is what we announced and this is what we're doing," he was quoted as saying.

"We have declared that we will never accept the ongoing Qassam fire and that we would take any steps needed to considerably reduce the fire and prevent terror activity," Olmert told the cabinet. "The operation is limited in time, but we have no intention of announcing when it will end."

"When we reach the conclusion that the effectiveness of the operation is bringing us closer to reaching the goals, we will definitely pull our forces out of Gaza," he added, "We have no intention to occupy Gaza."

A large-scale Israeli operation, dubbed "Autumn Clouds", began on Wednesday morning with dozens of Israeli army tanks, armored vehicles, bulldozers and airfreighters entering into Gaza.

A 12-year-old girl was killed Saturday evening by Israel Defense Forces sniper fire in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun, raising the death toll of the Palestinians killed during the Israeli offensive to 44, while about 200 were wounded, 25 of them are in critical conditions.

Source: Xinhua