JERUSALEM - ISRAELI Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday that Israel was not interested in a 'long war' in Gaza, where it has pummelled Hamas targets for six days.

'We are not interested in conducting a long war and we do not wish to conduct a war on a broad front,' Mr Olmert said on a visit to the desert city of Beersheva, which has come under rocket fire from Gaza militants over the past several days.

'We will deal with Hamas and terror with an iron fist,' he said.

The Israeli leader said that the Jewish state would continue to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, an impoverished territory that Israel has kept virtually sealed off since the Islamists violently assumed power there in June 2007.

'Hamas is a burden to us, but it is a much bigger burden to the Palestinian people. As I have said, we will treat the Palestinian people with silk gloves and we will provide them with humanitarian needs, medical equipment and there won't be a shortage of food.

'It is Hamas that is inflicting pain on its people,' he said.

Since the day after the start of its offensive on Saturday, Israel has allowed around 100 truckloads of humanitarian aid to pass into Gaza. -- AFP