Israel will expand its week-long military campaign in the Gaza Strip if Hamas refuses to accept an Egyptian ceasefire plan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday.

"If Hamas doesn't accept the ceasefire proposal -- and that's how it seems at this point in time -- Israel will have all the international legitimacy to broaden its military activity (in Gaza) in order to achieve the necessary quiet," Netanyahu said at a joint news conference in Tel Aviv with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.