An Israeli soldier stands on the hood of a military vehicle near the border with the Gaza Strip Dec. 28, 2008.

SDEROT, Israel, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday continued gearing up for a possible ground operation in the Gaza Strip, declaring the border area as a "closed military zone."

Out of what the army said was security concerns, journalists were no longer allowed to approach the border on the Israeli side, where the IDF has reinforced its presence with infantry troops and armored units, apparently in preparations for a widely speculated ground incursion following the ongoing deadly airstrikes at the Hamas-ruled area.

"Our offensive now is solely airborne, and we are doing assessment all the time. We will carry out a ground operation if our assessment shows it is necessary," IDF spokesperson Captain Elie Isaacson told Xinhua at this southern Israeli town, while refusing to reveal how many troops have been deployed along the border.

Admitting that all the previous Gaza operations failed to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets at Israel, Isaacson stressed that Israel this time would not put down the hatchet until quiet is restored to the borderland.

Gaza militants on Monday fired at least 41 rockets at southern Israel, killing one and injuring over a dozen, although Israeli officials said that the Gaza-ruling Hamas movement has suffered a serious blow from Israel's massive air raids.

The air strikes has so far killed over 310 people and injured over 1,000 more, generating international condemnation and calls for an immediate end to the bloodshed.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak stressed that the current campaign is "an all-out war against Hamas and its kind," using a term he reportedly employed in the past to describe a long-term struggle against Israel's Islamist enemies.

Revealing that the defense establishment spent months preparing for the Gaza operation, the former IDF chief of the general staff said that it "will be widened, deepened as we see fit."