HERZLIYA, ISRAEL - Israel's foreign minister threatened Monday to keep hitting Hamas as long as it attacks Israel, ruling out negotiations with the Islamist rulers of Gaza just eight days before national elections in which she hopes to become prime minister.
"Terror must be fought with force and lots of force," Tzipi Livni said. She threatened to renew Israel's offensive if attacks from Gaza continue. "If by ending the operation we have yet to achieve deterrence, we will continue until they get the message," she said.
In the elections next Tuesday, Livni is facing hard-line opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seen as the front-runner.
Her tough statements came as a Hamas delegation went to Cairo for talks today with Egyptian mediators on a long-term truce with Israel, building on a two-week informal cease-fire that followed Israel's bruising 22-day offensive in Gaza.
Events Monday underlined the urgency of the talks. An Israeli missile hit a car in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, killing a Palestinian militant, and warplanes bombed the nearby Gaza-Egypt border seeking to destroy smuggling tunnels used by Hamas. The attacks were retaliation for more than a dozen rockets and mortar shells fired from Gaza on Sunday, Israel said.
Meanwhile, Hamas' Syrian-based political leader, Khaled Mashaal, was in Tehran on Monday, thanking Iranian leaders for their support during the Gaza offensive.
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