Israel on Wednesday rejected international calls for a halt to its attacks on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, saying that a European Union proposal for a 48-hour truce offered no guarantee that the Islamist group would in turn end its rocket attacks on Israel.

At a meeting of the Israeli cabinet on Wednesday. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, told fellow ministers: ”We did not begin the Gaza operation in order to finish it with rocket fire continuing like it did before. Israel has restrained for years and given plenty of chances for a calm.”