Death toll rises to 315 in 'war to bitter end'

Source: Agencies  |   2008-12-30  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

ISRAELI air force obliterated symbols of Hamas power on the third day of its overwhelming Gaza assault yesterday, striking a house next to the Hamas premier's home, devastating a security compound and flattening a five-story building at a university linked to the Islamic group.

Israel's defense minister said his military is fighting a "war to the bitter end" against Hamas.

The three-day death toll rose to 315 by yesterday morning, including seven children under the age of 15 who were killed in two separate strikes overnight. Israel launched its campaign, the deadliest against Palestinians in decades, on Saturday.

The strikes appear to have gravely damaged Hamas' ability to launch rockets, but barrages continued. Sirens warning of incoming rockets sent Israelis scrambling for cover throughout the day.

One medium-range rocket fired at the Israeli city of Ashkelon killed a construction worker yesterday and wounded several others. He was the second Israeli killed since the beginning of the offensive.

On Sunday, Hamas missiles struck for the first time near the city of Ashdod, twice as far from Gaza as Ashkelon and only 40 kilometers from Israel's heart in Tel Aviv.

Most of those killed since Saturday were members of Hamas security forces, though the precise numbers remain unclear. A Hamas police spokesman, Ehab Ghussen, said 180 members of the Hamas security forces were among the dead, and the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees said at least 51 of the dead were civilians. A rise in civilian casualties could intensify international pressure on Israel to abort the offensive.

Israel's intense bombings - more than 300 air strikes since midday Saturday - reduced dozens of buildings to rubble. The military said naval vessels also bombarded targets from the sea.

One strike destroyed a five-story building in the women's wing at Islamic University, one of the most prominent Hamas symbols in Gaza. Other attacks ravaged a compound controlled by Preventive Security, one of the group's chief security arms, and destroyed a house next to the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister.

Like other Hamas leaders, Haniyeh is in hiding.

Late Sunday, Israeli aircraft attacked a building in the Jebaliya refugee camp next to Gaza City, killing a woman, a toddler and three teenage girls, Gaza Health Ministry official Dr Moaiya Hassanain said.

In the southern town of Rafah, a toddler and his two teenage brothers were killed in an air strike aimed at a Hamas commander. In Gaza City, another attack killed a man and his wife. Some families left their apartments next to institutions linked to Hamas, fearing they could be targeted.

Suad Abu Wadi, 42, was keeping her six children close to her in her Gaza City living room. Her husband sat with them, chain-smoking. Abu Wadi said he had not said a word since seeing their neighbor carrying the body of his child, killed in an air strike on Saturday.

Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister, told Israel's parliament in a special session that Israel was not fighting the residents of Gaza.

"But we have a war to the bitter end against Hamas and its branches," he said. Barak said the goal is to deal Hamas a severe blow and that the operation would be "widened and deepened as needed."