Jerusalem - Israel will continue with its military offensive in Gaza until it achieves a change in the balance of power between it and the radical Islamic Hamas movement ruling Gaza, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday.

"Israel has done everything to avoid the moment in which it would be forced to act, but this moment has arrived," she said.

"We will exhaust it in order to bring about a change in the equation," she told a special session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem.

Israel launched the offensive in Gaza in response to near-daily rocket and mortar attacks from the strip at its southern towns and villages. (dpa)