Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert, facing increasing international calls for a Gaza ceasefire, said Tuesday that a ceasefire would only be possible if there were firm commitments to a stop to rocket attacks and to the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza from Egypt, reported dpa.
In remarks reported by Israeli radio, Olmert said Israel was not under any illusion that there would be no Israeli casualties in the military incursion in Gaza targeting the radical Islamist Hamas.
Olmert also said he knew there would be protests from the international community against the military incursion. But Israel could no longer accept the steady barrage of rockets being fired at its border areas.