ANALYSIS:ISRAELI DEFENCE minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset yesterday that Israel was engaged in "an all-out war" with Hamas "to the bitter end".

Mr Barak added that the massive air assault Israel launched on Saturday is aimed not at Gaza's residents, but at the coastal strip's Hamas rulers. He said the operation's goal is to force Hamas to stop its hostile actions directed at Israeli civilians.

The defence minister said that Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip three years ago to give a chance for a new reality on the ground, but that Hamas had used the territory as a terrorist base.

"Hamas is responsible for everything that happens in Gaza," he said.

"This operation will be widened, deepened as we see fit."

Mr Barak told the Knesset that the defence establishment spent months preparing for the Gaza operation.

Israeli leaders believe there is a window of opportunity to engage Hamas before world leaders begin to exert pressure to reach a settlement.

Israel struck in the period between Christmas and New Year when most western leaders were otherwise occupied. The campaign also coincides with the changeover period of US administrations.

Both the outgoing and incoming US presidents are likely to believe that Washington's peacemaking efforts in the region will be boosted if Israel manages to inflict a significant military defeat on Hamas.

Barack Obama, speaking earlier this year, after visiting Sderot, the Israeli border town which bore the brunt of militant rocket attacks, said: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing."

The Israeli leadership sees the war as only the latest round in the struggle of the Jewish state against the radical jihadist axis led by Iran and Syria, and their proxies, Hizbullah and Hamas.

And, Israel believes, the moderate Arab states also have a stake in a decisive Israeli victory, although their leaders may be reluctant to say so publicly.

Israeli analysts pointed to the unprecedented call by Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, on Sunday for an uprising in Egypt, accusing Cairo of being a partner to "Israeli war crimes".

Israeli leaders continue to be vague about the aims of the current campaign.

Despite previous comments in favour of toppling Hamas, no one has cited regime change as the ultimate aim of the war.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in the summer of 2007, after a week of clashes with secular Fatah forces loyal to president Mahmoud Abbas. In the previous year Hamas candidates had trounced their Fatah rivals in parliamentary elections in Gaza.

The Hamas coup in Gaza effectively created two separate Palestinian entities; Hamastan in Gaza, and Fatahland in the West Bank.

Even in the unlikely event of Gaza residents turning against Hamas because of the Israeli assault, there is currently no viable alternative.

Mr Abbas and senior Fatah officials have expressed their desire to resume control of Gaza, but to do so following the current conflict would taint them as collaborators.

Ramadan Shallah, secretary general of the Islamic Jihad, warned that any Palestinian "who dares to return to the Gaza Strip aboard an Israeli tank would be condemned as a traitor".

Paradoxically, the Israeli operation may not only end with Hamas still firmly entrenched in Gaza, but it may see their popularity increase in the West Bank, where security forces loyal to Mr Abbas have slowly been spreading their authority over the last year.