JERUSALEM, Sept 30 (AFP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday approved recommendations by top defence officials for a broadening of a deadly Israeli army operation in the northern Gaza Strip, army radio reported.
In the operation codenamed "Days of Penitence", the army will carry out an "aggressive and ongoing activity" in Jabaliya refugee camp and the nearby town of Beit Hanun in a bid to halt the flow of Qassam rockets being fired at Israel by Palestinian militants, it said, quoting a defence official.
Sharon was meeting with members of the Israeli security cabinet at the defence ministry in Tel Aviv to seek its approval of the measures, the radio said.
The official said the security cabinet was likely to endorse a broader operation in the Gaza Strip that would see Israel reoccupying wide areas of the territory.
But he stressed it would not be "a permanent occupation".
"We are intending to make the Palestinians pay a heavy price so they will understand that continuing to fire Qassam rockets does not pay," the defence official said.
Members of the security cabinet have been allegely pressing for the army to carry out a second "Defensive Shield-style" operation in the Gaza Strip, the radio said.
Launched in March 2002, Operation Defensive Shield saw the army reoccupying most of the West Bank in a bid to detain Palestinian militants and put a halt to a spate of suicide bombings.