Israeli army has a contingency plan for ground operations in the Gaza Strip but for now it was still too early for a head-on clash with the Hamas-led Palestinian government, military sources told local Ha'aretz daily on Friday.

Israeli official believed that Israel was "scoring points" in the international arena in view of its limited responses to Monday 's Palestinian suicide bombing in Tel Aviv which left nine Israelis dead.

The already cash-strapped Palestinian government is struggling against its international isolation, which has increased in the wake of Hamas' support for the suicide bombing. Military commanders believed that a massive Israeli assault would help Hamas instead.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said that under certain circumstances he would support sending the Israeli troops back into the Gaza Strip from where Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers last summer under former prime minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan.

However, at this stage, he said Israel should make do with aerial and artillery attacks in the Gaza Strip to fight militant firing homemade rockets and broadening arrests of Islamic Jihad and other activists in the West Bank.

However, the Israeli forces holds a pessimistic attitude toward the future of the confrontation. Senior officers say that Hamas is not making any effort to curb the Jihad suicide bombers and stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. This could lead to a head-on collision especially if more large scale suicide bombings take place.

In recent weeks, the IDF has completed training forces to enter the Gaza Strip.

Source: Xinhua