Barak: Israel to hit Hamas again if necessary

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday that Israel will strike against Gaza militants again if necessary.

Barak said he hoped the truce that ended Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers holds. But he stressed that Israel is prepared to act again if Hamas continues to fire rockets at southern Israel.

"Hamas was hit like it was never hit before," the defense minister told Channel 10 TV on Friday. "If we need hit Hamas again, we will."

Israel launched its offensive on Dec. 27 to stop eight years of near-daily militant rocket fire from Gaza at southern Israeli towns. Nearly 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the fighting, about half of them civilians, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians.