Olmert said before the attack that his government was considering "possible terms in what may emerge as a cease-fire" with Gaza militants, whose rocket fire killed two Israelis last week.
But he added, "We will not be able to tolerate continuous attacks on innocent civilians."
Israeli leaders have been reluctant to order a full-scale invasion of Gaza for fear of heavy casualties to Israeli soldiers. Their hesitation is under growing criticism here as Gaza militants, who have fired homemade Kassam rockets at small Israeli border communities for years, improve their weaponry. Only in recent months have the more sophisticated Soviet-designed Grads begun landing deeper in Israel, many in Ashkelon, a coastal city of 108,000.
Several political leaders called Wednesday for strong retaliation. Benny Elon of the right-wing opposition National Union suggested that Olmert was holding back in order not to spoil Bush's festive 48-hour visit with scenes of heavy fighting in Gaza.
"Woe betides a state whose leaders are occupied with cocktail parties while they are incapable of defending their citizens," he said.
Shohat, the mall's maintenance chief, leveled scathing criticism at Olmert, who is under police investigation this month in the latest of several corruption cases.
"This is what we're going to deal with every day, corruption?" she told Israel Radio. "What about some security here? Such an amazing nation with a tremendous army. Yet we have no security."
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boudreaux@latimes.com
Batsheva Sobelman of The Times' Jerusalem Bureau contributed to this report.
