JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Sharon pledged yesterday to escalate a broad Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, saying troops will remain until Palestinian Arab rocket attacks are halted. Israeli officials said the offensive – in which 58 Palestinian Arabs and three Israelis have been killed – will help clear the way for an Israeli withdrawal.

Israel poured 2,000 troops into northern Gaza after a Palestinian Arab rocket attack on Wednesday killed two preschoolers in the Israeli town of Sderot. In new bloodshed yesterday, at least seven Palestinian Arabs, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed, while a second 13-year-old boy died of wounds sustained earlier.

The fighting, concentrated in the Jebaliya refugee camp, has caused heavy damage. Palestinian Arabs say Israeli forces have destroyed homes, torn up roads, and left a kindergarten in rubble.

The Israeli air force also fired two missiles early today at a group of Palestinian Arab terrorists in Gaza City, wounding three people, including a local Hamas commander. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Speaking on Israel Radio, Mr. Sharon said he was determined to halt rocket fire on towns inside Israel and shelling of Jewish settlements in Gaza.

“The current situation cannot continue,” Mr. Sharon said. “We have to expand…the areas of operation in order to get the rocket launchers out of the range of Israeli towns.”

Israel is operating in a five-mile strip of northern Gaza, aimed at keeping its cities and towns out of rocket range.

“The forces will have to remain there as long as this danger exists,” Mr. Sharon told Israel’s Army Radio.

The rocket attacks could complicate Mr. Sharon’s plan to pull all troops and Israeli settlements from Gaza next year. Mr. Sharon insisted yesterday that the pullout would take place on schedule.

Hard-line opponents, including members of Mr. Sharon’s own party, accuse the prime minister of caving in to terrorism and warn that a pullback will only increase further violence.

Against the backdrop of criticism, last week’s fatal rocket attack left Mr. Sharon with little choice but to act, said Gerald Steinberg, a Middle East expert at Bar-Ilan University. “Not doing anything…was not an option the government could accept,” he said.

Raanan Gissin, a top adviser to Mr. Sharon, said the offensive would pave the way for the withdrawal by striking a tough blow against the terrorists.

“When we leave, it won’t be under the threat of fire,” Mr. Gissin said. “We have seized the initiative.”

After an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis, Palestinian Arab legislators issued a statement yesterday implying that terrorists should stop firing rockets at Israel.

“The Palestinian Legislative Council, while asserting our people’s right to resist Israel’s ugly occupation, calls on all factions to put this resistance in a strategic frame that is consistent with the Palestinian higher interests,” the lawmakers said.

The U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, called on both sides to halt the fighting. He “reminds both sides…they have a legal obligation to protect all civilians,” according to a statement from his spokesman’s office.

Over the weekend, Israeli forces hit hard at Palestinian Arab terrorists in the Jebaliya refugee camp and the nearby towns. The army has labeled its operation “Days of Penitence.”

Some 7,000 Hamas supporters marched through Gaza City yesterday to protest the raid.

Israeli officials said the military had no intention of setting up a long-term presence in northern Gaza, but they gave no time limit for the operation.

“We will continue this operation as long as we need,” said Israel’s army chief, the lieutenant general, Moshe Yaalon. “The troops are ready to continue, not in terms of days, but weeks.”

In yesterday’s fighting, four terrorists were killed in Israeli air strikes, including two men riding on a donkey cart just after firing a rocket at an Israeli town. Later yesterday, terrorists fired two more rockets into southern Israel. The army said the rockets landed in open fields and caused no injuries.

The army said another terrorist was shot and killed in nearby Beit Hanoun as he planted a bomb with other terrorists. Hospital officials said a 13-year-old boy was killed after being shot in the chest in eastern Jebaliya. Relatives said the boy had been playing outside his home. The army had no immediate comment.