VIDEO – Day five of Operation Cast Lead saw the National Security Cabinet decide to forge on with the Gaza offensive. "Israel did not launch the Gaza offensive only to end it while rockets are still fired at us," said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Can you imagine ending the operation unilaterally after a few days only to have a rocket barrage hit Ashkelon? "Israel has been restraining itself for years. We gave the ceasefire a fair chance and we did it knowing there would be a price we did it so the residents of the south could have some sort of a normal life, free of Color Red alerts every few minutes. We were willing to give it a try but Hamas kept violating the truce." Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said that the 48-hour "humanitarian ceasefire" proposed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was not a viable option nevertheless, other diplomatic options are being explored. Olmert lashed out at those pushing for the immediate halt of the Gaza offensive: "Do you even understand the implications this would have on Israel and on the entire region? On Israeli deterrence? "However," he added, "If the right circumstances – the kind we feel can guarantee better security realities in the south – would present themselves, we would be willing to consider it, but we're not there yet." Politics, his stressed, play no part in the operational decisions regarding Cast Lead: "This is a highly charged political time, but I will not let anyone introduce political fire into this sensitive and complex (military) campaign. "The foreign minister, defense minister and myself are working together and all decisions are made according to the situation at hand. That doesn’t mean the process is free of disagreements, but the public has to know that all the decisions are made in a careful and responsible manner." Wednesday also saw the cabinet briefed on the progress made in the Gaza offensive, as the IDF presented evidence of weapon tunnels, trucks carrying Grad rockets, a chemical warfare lab and missile electronics lab being destroyed. The IDF further estimated that out of the 390 fatalities reported, 40 were civilians noting that Hamas has ordered both its political and military leaders to go underground.