Minister Silvan Shalom.

Responding to a barrage of more than 150 rockets fired at the Jewish state by Gaza terrorists, a senior Israeli minister told Israel Radio on Tuesday that “Sooner or later there will be a wide-ranging military offensive in Gaza.”

“There is no doubt it will come when the time is right,” the minister said. “It won’t be a limited, pin-point operation, but rather a deep military action against the terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom told Army Radio that Israel “has no choice but to perform targeted assassinations against Hamas leaders, and then maybe even send ground forces into Gaza.”

“There are no election considerations here—only an interest in protecting the residents of the south,” Shalom said.

Palestinian terrorist organizations, including Hamas, are “suffering as a result of intense strikes [by the Israel Defense Forces] in Gaza,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. Israel “will decide how and when to act if necessary,” according to Barak.