Israel vowed yesterday to press on with a Gaza offensive and curb rocket strikes, threatening even stronger action despite U.N. condemnation of assaults that have killed more than 100 Palestinians, many of them civilians.

«Israel has no intention of stopping the fight against the terrorist organizations even for a minute,» Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet, facing the new challenge of long-range rockets hitting the major southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Earlier, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel for using «excessive» force in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and demanded a halt to air and ground attacks that killed 61 people on Saturday, the bloodiest day for Palestinians since the 1980s. Olmert said striking at Hamas only advanced the cause of peace, and «the Palestinian leadership - the one with which we wish to make peace - understands this». But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: «If Israeli aggression continues, it will bury the peace process.»

After five days of fighting, Ban also called at an emergency U.N. Security Council session for a halt to rocket fire by Gaza?s Islamists mi-litants. In a statement, the Security Council said it was deeply concerned about the loss of civilian life in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip and urged a cessation of violence.

Nidal AL-MUGHRABI