Israeli President Shimon Peres today rejected the possibility of a cease-fire as Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. However he said Israel does not intend to occupy Gaza.
"We don't intend neither to occupy Gaza nor to crush Hamas, but to crush terror. And Hamas needs a real and serious lesson. They are now getting it," Mr Peres said in an interview on the ABC News program This Week.
Mr Peres also brushed aside the chances of a cease-fire to bring the fighting to a halt.
"We shall not accept the idea that Hamas will continue to fire and we shall declare a cease-fire. It does not make any sense," Mr Peres said.
"We were careful. We restrained. We waited. We gave them many chances," he added.
Referring to Hamas, he said, "They cannot explain why are they shooting .... and they cannot hide that they are acting by orders from Iran. Iran has two satellites in the Middle East, the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza."
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has canceled a trip to China this week because of the crisis in Gaza.
Ms Rice had been set to leave for China today, with stops in other Asian destinations, but she has now decided to stay in Washington and her deputy, John Negroponte, will go in her place.
"Due to events in the Middle East, Secretary Rice will not be able to travel to Beijing, China as she had expected," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in a statement.
European Union foreign policy chiefs began a mission to seek a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip but acknowledged they faced a difficult task.
"It is absolutely necessary that violence has to stop," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters in Prague before flying to Egypt as part of an EU delegation led by Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.
Mr Schwarzenberg acknowledged that it would be very tough for the mission to achieve success.
"It is clear the situation is very bad," he said at a joint news conference with Mr Ferrero-Waldner.
"We will try to achieve any success we can but we all realise this is very difficult. We will try to open all ways for humanitarian aid to be able to access to Gaza and we will try to discuss what conditions should be set to enable a ceasefire."
Reuters