Israel Hits Gaza with 12 Air Raids after Rocket Fire, Netanyahu Weighs Ban on Islamist Movement

Israel is "ready" to expand its operations in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday after the air force struck 12 targets overnight following a surge in militant rocket fire.

Speaking to ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting, the Israeli premier said the almost-nightly military strikes on Gaza could be expanded should the need arise.

His remarks came after a sharp hike in tensions along the border as militant groups have stepped up their fire on southern Israel.

"Over the weekend, the IDF attacked multiple targets in response to firing at Israel from the Gaza Strip. We are ready to expand this operation as per need," Netanyahu said, without elaborating.

Speaking to army radio ahead of the cabinet meeting, Israel's hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned a limited response would only strengthen the Islamist movement Hamas, which held power in Gaza for the past seven years but stepped down earlier this month when a unified government with the West Bank was sworn in.

"We have seen that, at the end of the day, limited operations only strengthen Hamas so the alternative is clear," he said, repeating his long-held assertion that Israel should re-occupy the Gaza Strip, which it left in 2005.

Israeli warplanes struck Gaza 12 times overnight, with Palestinian officials saying two people had been lightly injured.

The army said the sites targeted were being used for "terrorist activity."

The raids took place after six rockets struck southern Israel on Saturday evening, one of which hit a paint factory in Sderot industrial zone, causing an explosion and major fire as the flammable substance ignited, police said.

On Friday, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a car near Gaza City, with the military saying they had been involved in firing rockets at Israel.

Hours earlier, a bomb had exploded along the southern sector of the border, prompting Israeli tanks to open fire towards the southern city of Khan Yunis, injuring five Palestinians, one of them a child.

The military said it had fired on "lookout posts used to guide the attack" with Palestinians officials saying it had targeted "two mosque minarets east of Khan Yunis."

Over the past fortnight, 25 rockets fired from Gaza have struck southern Israel out of a total of 28 since the start of the month, prompting a series of almost nightly Israeli air strikes. Last month, the total was seven.

The rise in rocket fire has coincided with a huge Israeli arrest operation in the West Bank to track down three teenagers who went missing on June 12, whom Israel says were kidnapped by Hamas militants.

So far, more than 400 Palestinians have been arrested, most of them Hamas members, and another five have been killed.

But there has been no claim for the youths' abduction, nor has there been any indication of their whereabouts.

Later on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel is considering banning the radical wing of the Islamist Movement over its ties with Hamas.

The Islamic Movement in Israel was founded in the early 1970s and subsequently split into two branches, the radical northern faction and its more moderate southern counterpart.

Speaking to ministers at a weekly meeting of his cabinet, Netanyahu said Israel was considering a ban on the northern branch.

"It constantly preaches against the State of Israel, and its people publicly identify with terrorist organizations like as Hamas," he said, accusing the northern chapter of being behind a weekend rally at which demonstrators allegedly called for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

"Therefore, I directed the relevant authorities to consider declaring the northern branch of the Islamic Movement an illegal organization. This would give the security authorities significant tools in the struggle against this movement," he said, his remarks communicated by his office.

Hundreds of Arab Israelis rallied in the northern town of Umm al-Fahm on Friday in protest against a major West Bank arrest campaign triggered by the disappearance of three Israeli teenagers on June 12.

Israel has accused Hamas of kidnapping them, and has staged a crackdown on the Islamist movement in the West Bank. So far, five Palestinians have been killed and more than 400 arrested, two thirds of them Hamas members.

Netanyahu accused the demonstrators of making "outrageous calls" for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

"We cannot accept infuriating calls to abduct IDF soldiers. In many cases, those behind such calls and demonstrations are from the northern branch of the Islamic Movement," he said.

"Most Israeli Arabs do not take this view and I call on their leaders to be courageous and strongly condemn such calls."

But his threat was dismissed by the movement's leadership.

"We are not afraid of these threats," it said in a statement.

"It is clear that Netanyahu, with his blind insistence on outlawing the Islamic Movement, doesn't need any reason to incite against the movement."

The movement is tolerated in Israel but is under constant surveillance because of its perceived links with Hamas, which controlled ruled the Gaza Strip for the past seven years, but relinquished its political hold on power with the formation of a joint administration this month.

Since June 18, Sheikh Raed Salah, a firebrand preacher who heads the movement's northern wing, has been banned from leaving the country for "security reasons."

The Islamic Movement draws support from the 160,000 Palestinian Arabs who remained on their land when Israel was established in 1948. Now known as Arab Israelis, they number around 1.4 million, or some 20 percent of Israel's population.