On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military campaign in Gaza could turn into an extended operation. At a news conference in Tel Aviv, the premier added that the Gaza war, launched on July 8, would go on as long as Israeli officials felt necessary.

"Operation Protective Edge has not ended," Netanyahu said in an address to the nation on Wednesday, using the military's name for the campaign. "We are determined to continue the operation and we will not stop until we have utmost security and quiet returns to all citizens of Israel," he added. Netanyahu said that all options remained on the table, including a ground invasion, and that if Hamas continued to fire rockets, the military would "crush it many times over."

The operation has claimed more than 2,000 lives in Gaza, about three-quarters of them civilians, according to the United Nations. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat, and three civilians died in rocket attacks launched by militants from Gaza.

'Failed to assassinate'

On Wednesday, a Hamas spokesman said on the group's Al-Aqsa television channel that Israel had not managed to hit the faction's military commander, though it did kill Mohammed Deif's wife and son in an the airstrike on their home. Earlier Wednesday, Israeli media reported that the military had killed Deif.

"The Zionist enemy failed to assassinate General Commander Abu Khaled," the spokesman said, using Deif's nom de guerre.

Asked Wednesday whether he could confirm that Israel had tried to assassinate Deif and whether the operation had succeeded, Netanyahu said only that "their commanders are legitimate targets."

Israel alleges that militants fired rockets from Gaza Tuesday, hours before the midnight expiration of a truce. Hamas denied the rocket launches.

The armed wing of Hamas did, however, claim responsibility for later volleys into southern and central Israel, which reported no casualties. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that militants had fired 159 rockets, of which 119 hit, with 27 shot down. She said the army had hit 92 targets in Gaza in response.

mkg/rc (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)