The two leading candidates to become Israel's next prime minister vowed yesterday to end Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip if elected, ratcheting up tensions after a six-month-old ceasefire ended in violence.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist Kadima party, said her government's "strategic objective" would be to "topple the Hamas regime" using military, economic and diplomatic means. She did not set a timetable.

Benjamin Netanyahu, head of Israel's right-wing Likud party and Livni's main rival for the premiership, called for a more "active policy of attack", accusing the current government, including Livni, of being too "passive".