'Hamas must stop firing rockets'

President George W. Bush believes the militant group Hamas needs to stop firing rockets at Israel as a first step to a ceasefire and he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the White House said yesterday.

"President Bush thinks that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets and that is what will be the first step in a ceasefire," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Texas where Mr Bush was on holiday.

During the phone call with Mr Olmert, Mr Bush received assurances from the Israeli leader that Israel was only targeting Hamas and working to minimise civilian casualties, Mr Johndroe said. The two did not discuss a timetable for halting Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, he said.

Meanwhile, Israel yesterday said the time was not right for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and stepped up preparations for a possible ground offensive after Hamas's long-range rockets hit another major population centre.

"If conditions will ripen and we think there will be a diplomatic solution that will ensure a better security reality in the south, we will consider it. But at the moment, it's not there," an aide quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying.

"We didn't start this operation just to end it with rocket fire continuing as it did before it began," Mr Olmert said, according to the aide. "Imagine if we declare a unilateral ceasefire and a few days later rockets fall on (the town of) Ashkelon. What will that do to Israel's deterrence?"

Foreign pressure has grown on both sides to end hostilities.

France had proposed a 48-hour truce that would allow in more humanitarian aid for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

Mr Olmert made the remarks - which did not rule out a ceasefire in the future - to his security Cabinet, which had rebuffed the plan. Hamas said it was prepared to study proposals for a ceasefire. "We are for any initiative that will bring an immediate cessation to the aggression and lift the siege entirely," Hamas official Ayman Taha said, referring to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, territory controlled by the Islamist group.