Livni tells Mubarak: We'll act to halt 'unbearable' Gaza rocket fire

Rejecting a call for restraint by Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday told the Egyptian President that Israel will act to halt "unbearable" rocket attacks by Gaza militants.

"We cannot tolerate a situation in which Hamas continues to target Israel, Israel's citizens, and this situation is going to be changed," Livni told the Egyptian leader.

The pair met in Cairo shortly after the cabinet approved a military response to escalating rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Mubarak, for his part, told Livni that Egypt expects Israel to exercise restraint in the face of Gaza rocket fire.

Livni added: "Hamas needs to understand that our desire to live in peace doesn't mean we will allow the [rocket] fire to continue - Israel will do everything necessary to protect its citizens."

Mubarak told Livni that Egypt further expected Israel to take steps in order to ease the humanitarian situation in the destitute coastal territory.

Livni, however, said that Hamas was the only party to blame for crisis facing Gaza's civilian population.

"There is a clear address for the population's situation in Gaza, and that is Hamas," she said. "Israel will do everything necessary to protect its citizens."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was also present at the meeting. He called on Israel to renew a recently expired cease fire agreement with Hamas, even if only in an unofficial manner.

Aboul Gheit told reporters that, "Egypt will not stop efforts [to broker a truce] as long as the parties want this, but I cannot imagine that we can convince the two sides to go back to the calm as long as there is this escalation."

"What we are asking them both is to restrain themselves, and then we will see how to come back to that period of quiet."

Mubarak and Aboul Gheit's comments came despite a report Wednesday by the London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported that Egypt has informed Israel that it would not object to a limited Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Under the terms of the cease fire, which went into effect in June, Hamas agreed to halt rocket fire in return for Israel easing a blockade that was tightened after the Islamist group seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

During the meeting on Thursday, Aboul Gheit also denied reports that Hamas long-range missiles were smuggled into the Gaza Strip from Egypt.

"There are no weapons that make it to Gaza from Egypt," Aboul Gheit said, adding that he "doesn't know where the weapons come from but they don't come from Egypt and Israel is not holding us responsible for them."

Livni later met with the head of Egyptian intelligence Omar Suleiman, with whom she is discussing kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, currently held by Hamas in Gaza.

	Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak shaking hands with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni during their meeting in Cairo on Thursday. (AP)