Israeli air strike kills 4 militants in Gaza

By Abed Shana

GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed four militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had commissioned a plan for military action in the Hamas-run territory if rocket attacks on Israel persist.

"I ordered security chiefs to present their proposals to me as soon as possible so that an orderly plan of action could, if necessary, be brought to the decision-makers in the government for approval," Olmert told his cabinet, in broadcast remarks.

Olmert said Israel could not tolerate rocket salvoes during a "so-called calm."

He stopped short of declaring dead an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Hamas that has been tested by a flare-up of violence over the past two weeks.

Olmert appeared to rule out any immediate move toward significantly stronger Israeli military action, saying that despite "soaring emotions and hot blood," his government would examine the situation and act in a "calm and settled" manner.

But he gave no indication Israel would soon lift its closure of Gaza's crossings to humanitarian aid, including food distributed by the United Nations to 750,000 needy Palestinians and fuel for Gaza's sole power plant.

Both the United Nations and the European Union have urged Israel to let aid supplies through.

At least 17 Palestinian militants have been killed since November 4, when Israel raided the Gaza Strip to destroy a tunnel it said gunmen were planning to use to seize a soldier. Gunmen have fired dozens of rockets at Israel, causing several injuries.

MILIBAND TOUTS "SOLIDARITY"

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in Jerusalem he would visit the southern Israeli town of Sderot where most of the rockets fired from Gaza in recent days have struck.

"I very much look forward to be showing my solidarity with them on my visit there," Miliband said in Jerusalem, alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who said: "Israel cannot just sit watching our citizens under attack."

Hamas leaders accused Israel of violating a truce that had largely held since mid-June.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: "We have the right to respond to Zionist attacks. The Israeli government wrecked the truce and failed to meet any of its understandings."

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's top leader in Gaza, told reporters that a "continuation of this calm" depended on Israel ending military raids and lifting a two-week border closure that has choked off fuel and food aid to the enclave.

Three rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel and an Israeli was lightly injured by shrapnel from a rocket that slammed into the yard of a home in Sderot.