Ehud Olmert said he is concerned with the escalating factional fighting, which has claimed about 50 lives over the past two days, as well as the threat of extremist elements usurping power in the Palestinian enclave.
"If Gaza ends up in the hands of Hamas, that would have colossal, far-reaching implications for the entire region. Israel will continue to defend itself against any aggression, but we cannot enter the Gaza Strip to fight extremists on behalf of Palestinian pragmatists," he was quoted by the government press service as saying.
He said instead that Israel proposes the deployment of an international peacekeeping contingent on the border with Egypt to prevent the shipment of arms that are fueling the internal Palestinian conflict.
Hamas and the pro-presidential Fatah have been engaged in a power struggle since Hamas won parliamentary elections, ending four decades of Fatah rule.
Fatah said its ministers will suspend their participation in the coalition government until the bloodshed ends.
There are six Fatah and nine Hamas ministers in the Palestinian national unity government.
Hamas gunmen seized the headquarters of a Fatah security force in northern Gaza Tuesday, with 17 Palestinians killed and over 60 wounded as a result.
Hamas said earlier Wednesday it seized a Fatah checkpoint on a north-south road, adding that it brought a bulldozer to flatten the post.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem warned of a "very dangerous security situation" in Gaza, advising journalists not to travel there.
