Israel stepped up threats to send ground troops back into the Gaza Strip despite its historic pullout from the territory last year, should Palestinian militant rocket attacks continue. In interviews with Israeli newspapers published one day after a small force entered the territory for the first time since September’s pullout, two senior army officers said ground operations could be launched in the future. However both Deputy Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplinski and Major General Yitzhak Harel said they had no illusions that such incursions would stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into the Jewish state. Full Story