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JERUSALEM-Israel drove nearly 70 foreign ambassadors to its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday as part of a campaign seeking international support for tougheraction against the enclave's Hamas Islamist rulers.Israel took the ambassadors to the Erez crossing with the Hamas-controlled enclave, where they were briefed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and military commanders."It's important that the international community know what we are facing and what dangers are created by Hamas," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said of the briefing.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has so far been wary of launching a major ground operation that could cause heavy casualties, arguing there were no "overnight solutions" to daily rocket fire from Gaza that has inflamed Israeli public opinion.But he faces growing domestic pressure after Hamas claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in southern Israel last week and an 8-year-old Israeli boy lost part of his leg to a rocket strike on Saturday. Olmert says Israel is at "war".Israel says it can maintain parallel tracks with the Palestinians, one aimed at breaking Hamas's hold on Gaza, and the other aimed at reaching a statehood agreement with West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Western-backed forces were defeated by Hamas in Gaza last year.The rockets have sparked debate inside and outside Olmert's government, with top ministers calling for the army to assassinate Hamas political as well as military leaders and to flatten those areas in Gaza where the rockets are launched.
As in the days of Noah....
