"Israeli" Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni admits that despite 19 days of continued bombardment, Tel Aviv has been unable to destroy Hamas.

In an interview with Der Spiegel, the former Mossad agent said although "Israel" has been unable to destroy Hamas, but claimed that ‘Israel has "successfully weakened Hamas and dealt it a heavy blow."

Livni went on to claim that despite the assertions of many echelons in Tel Aviv, Operation Cast Lead "was never about destroying Hamas".

"Our aim was to restore our deterrence capability. They will think twice before they dare to fire the next rocket at 'Israel'," she explained.

Tel Aviv had previously announced that its offensive into the densely-populated strip, which began on December 27, was directed at stopping resistance rockets from hitting "Israel".

Officials later upgraded their objective, affirming that they would no doubt destroy the democratically-elected ruler of the sliver of land.

Livni claimed that during the 19-day carnage, which has so far killed 975 people and wounded 4500, "Israel" has tried to minimize civilian casualties.

The "Israeli" justification the death of at least 400 women and children comes as Tel Aviv has been using unconventional weapons in densely-populated areas of the strip.

According to Tuesday remarks by the Swedish Red Cross, "Israeli" troops have also been firing at emergency crews in a "very deliberate" way.