Hamas pounds Israeli targets

December 30, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

The United Nations condemned Israel’s offensive and demanded an immediate cease-fire.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian militants sent a deadly barrage of missiles flying deep into Israel on Monday, demonstrating that Hamas still had firepower three days into Israel’s punishing air offensive in Gaza.

Four Israelis, including a soldier, were killed. Palestinian health officials put the three-day death toll in Gaza at 364; the U.N. said the total included at least 62 civilians.

Early today, Israeli aircraft dropped at least 16 bombs on five Hamas government buildings in a Gaza City complex, destroying them, setting fires and sending rubble flying for hundreds of yards, witnesses said. Rescue workers said 40 people were injured.

In Monday’s attacks, Israel focused its bombing on the houses of Hamas field operatives in a campaign meant to tear at the roots of the extremist group ruling Gaza. Israel’s defense minister promised a “war to the bitter end against Hamas” and allied militants.

Intensified rocket strikes by Gaza militants, which triggered the Israeli offensive, have revealed the expanding range of missiles that are making larger cities farther inside Israel vulnerable.

In a barrage Monday night, a missile crashed into a bus stop in Ashdod, 23 miles from the Gaza Strip. A woman died and two others were wounded, one seriously — the first casualties in the city of 190,000 residents.

The military said an Israeli soldier was killed later in a mortar strike, the first soldier to be killed in the conflict. Five others were wounded, one seriously, according to a military statement.

Earlier Monday, an Israeli was killed and one seriously wounded by a rocket strike in the Negev desert community of Nahal Oz, closer to the Gaza border. A rocket also killed an Israeli construction worker in the city of Ashkelon. In all, five Israelis have been killed since the Gaza offensive began Saturday, bringing to 19 the number killed in rocket attacks from Gaza this year.

Hamas releases numbers

Early today, Hamas released a statement saying its squads had fired 43 homemade rockets, 17 longer-range Grads and six mortar shells at Israel. Other militant groups also fired rockets at Israel.

The targets chosen by Israel on Monday pointed to an intention to chip away at Hamas’ foundation. Israeli aircraft staged five separate strikes on the houses of field operatives, though there was no confirmation that any of them were killed.

A grainy video taken by an Israeli drone airplane showed several men loading a pickup truck with what the Israeli military said were medium-range Grad rockets. Moments later, a big explosion from an Israeli missile strike envelops the image.

One Israeli attack targeted a house in the Jebaliya refugee camp, killing seven people, but the Hamas activist was not there, Hamas security and relatives said. Another hit the Jebaliya home of Abdel-Karim Jaber, a Hamas political figure who is a senior administrator at Gaza’s Islamic University. He was not at home and it wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was hurt in the strike.

Israel strikes 325 sites

Israel’s airstrikes on more than 325 sites since midday Saturday reduced dozens of buildings to rubble, overwhelmed hospitals with wounded and filled Gaza’s deserted streets with smoke and fire. The military said Israeli naval vessels had also bombarded targets from the sea.

On Monday, aircraft pulverized a house next to the home of Hamas Premier Ismail Haniyeh, a security compound and a five-story building at a university closely linked to the Islamic group — all symbols of Hamas strength in the coastal territory it has ruled since June 2007.

Israel’s offensive has rattled the Middle East and capitals around the world, triggering street protests and fiery speeches by adversaries of Israel like the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. In the day’s biggest outpouring of anger, tens of thousands of Hezbollah’s supporters stood in a pouring rain in a Beirut square to condemn Israel.

Stone-throwing clashes broke out in about a half-dozen spots in the Palestinians’ West Bank territory as well as in several Arab-populated areas inside Israel. Israeli police and soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas at rioting youths, but it did not appear anyone was injured.

Response from the U.N.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel’s offensive as excessive and demanded an immediate cease-fire. He said key international and regional players — including foreign ministers of the Arab League nations holding an emergency meeting Wednesday — must “act swiftly and decisively to bring an early end to this impasse.”

The U.S. government said it was “vigorously engaged” in trying to restore a cease-fire.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe defended the Israeli response, but added that the Bush administration was urging Israel to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

With Israeli troops and tanks massing on the Gaza border, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told parliament he wanted to strike a devastating blow against Hamas. However, later he indicated a ground assault was not inevitable, issuing a warning that he was giving Hamas a last chance to halt its rocket fire.

Short of reoccupying Gaza, however, it was unlikely any amount of Israeli firepower could completely snuff out militant rocket attacks. Past operations all failed to do so.