Israel on Friday threatened wide scale military action against the Gaza Strip after launching a string of air strikes in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday warned Israel against launching a fresh assault on the Gaza Strip, saying such action would bring it "closer to certain death."

However, the United States urged restraint on both sides, saying there was no military solution to the conflict.

"They are looking for an excuse to attack Gaza. I want to tell the Zionists and their backers that enough crime has been committed already," Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state television.

"The new adventure will not save you, but will bring you closer to certain death," said Ahmadinejad, who has drawn international condemnation for repeatedly saying the Jewish state is doomed to be wiped off the map.

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom warned of a new offensive on the coastal territory unless militant rocket attacks ceased.

"If this rocket fire against Israel does not stop, it seems we will have to raise the level of our activity and step up our actions against Hamas," Shalom told public radio.

” We won't allow frightened children to again be raised in bomb shelters and so, in the end, it will force us to launch another military operation.

"I hope we can avoid it, but it is one of the options we have, and if we don't have a choice, we will use it in the near future," he said.

Three Palestinian children — aged two, four and 11 — were hit by flying glass in one of six overnight raids, said Moawiya Hassanein, head of the Palestinian emergency services in Gaza.

There were no other reports of casualties.

The head of the Islamist Hamas movement's government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, blamed the Jewish state for the increase in tensions.