Senior Israeli ministers yesterday gave the go-ahead for tens of thousands of reservists to be called up to bolster the military campaign in Lebanon, but at the same time decided against expanding the army's ground operation in south Lebanon.
The decision authorises the army to call up three divisions of reservists, triggering speculation over how long Israel's ground incursion into south Lebanon would remain limited.
The office of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert released a statement saying that the draft was meant "to prepare the force for possible developments" and to "freshen the forces as needed".
Any further decisions on whether the reserve forces would actually be used or whether the operation would be expanded, the statement said, would first have to be brought to the cabinet for approval.
Military chiefs wanted the cabinet to authorise a mass call-up for an expanded ground operation that would last two months and would be aimed at forcing Hizbullah fighters beyond the Litani river, which is some 20 kilometres from the border with Israel.
Defence minister Amir Peretz, however, is opposed to an expansion of the ground operation.
Speaking in Tel Aviv last night, army chief Lieut Gen Dan Halutz insisted that the reserve call-up should not be interpreted by anyone as a threat but was to ensure that the army was ready for "all possibilities".
Israeli leaders are concerned that Syria might misinterpret the mass mobilisation of reservists.
Lieut Gen Halutz said that Hizbullah had suffered hundreds of casualties since the fighting started 16 days ago and that the Israeli military has inflicted "serious damage to their rocket-launching capabilities".
Nevertheless, the Shia organisation continued to fire rockets into northern Israel yesterday, with seven people injured as dozens of rockets slammed into the towns of Carmiel, Tiberias, Nahariya, Kiryat Shmona and Safed.
In total, some 1,500 rockets have struck Israeli towns since the fighting erupted.
Israeli justice minister Haïm Ramon said yesterday that the outcome of a mideast conference in Rome on Wednesday was an indication to Israel that it could press ahead with its military offensive.
"We received . . . at the Rome conference permission from the world . . . to continue the operation, this war, until Hizbullah won't be located in Lebanon and until it is disarmed," Mr Ramon said.
But European leaders insisted Israel had misread the results of the conference in which the US and Europe failed to agree on the issue of a ceasefire.
While the Europeans are pushing for a swift end to the hostilities, the Americans have said they are opposed to an unconditional ceasefire that would leave Hizbullah forces located on the border with Israel.
"The killing must stop, that was also the message in Rome," said European Union external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who was in Israel yesterday.
Hamas and Palestinian Authority officials downplayed comments yesterday by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas that the release of Cpl Gilad Shalit, the 19-year-old Israeli soldier being held captive in Gaza, was "imminent".
Lawmaker Saeb Erekat said it was "premature" to say Cpl Shalit was on the verge of being freed, while a spokesman for Hamas - the group holding him captive - said he was unaware of any new developments.
Mr Erekat said that the Palestinian leader's words had been mistranslated.