Israel says bombing has damaged Hamas capabilities

PARIS (Reuters) - Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has damaged Hamas and will continue until the Jewish state no longer deems the Palestinian Islamist faction a threat, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Thursday.

"I think that even now, after a few days of operation we have achieved changes," she told reporters on a visit to Paris, referring to an air strike campaign launched on Saturday.

"We affected most of the infrastructure of terror within the Gaza Strip and the question whether it's enough will be according to an assessment on a daily basis."

Livni, who met French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said Israel intended to "change the reality" in and around Gaza. Israeli officials say this would entail ending Palestinian rocket salvoes that have sown panic in neighbouring southern Israel.

"We want to weaken Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At the end of the day, Hamas is a problem not only to Israel but to the entire Palestinian people," Livni said.

"They are a problem to all the Arab states who understand that they have their own radical elements back home, including Muslim brotherhoods in different places."

Hamas has remained defiant despite an Israeli barrage that has killed more than 400 Palestinians. Four Israelis have been killed by retaliatory rocket strikes.

Livni came to Paris to address a French proposal for a 48-hour truce to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Her office said she had reiterated her government's rejection of the idea.

"There is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce," the Foreign Ministry quoted Livni as saying in a statement.