Jerusalem, July 3 (IANS) The Israeli military deployed reinforcements to the southern border with the Gaza Strip Thursday amid a sharp spike in Gaza rocket attacks and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, the Israeli army said in a statement. An undisclosed number of armoured units ceased headed south to augment the army's Gaza Division in preparation for a possible large-scale operation to quell rocket fire, Xinhua reported citing the statement. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said forces were mobilising in response to a dramatic surge in the number of rockets fired by Hamas at southern Israel in the past 48 hours, taking up defensive positions in communities neighbouring the coastal enclave.