JERUSALEM – With relentless airstrikes and preparations for a possible ground incursion, Israel made clear Monday that its deadly assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was intended to weaken the militant Islamic group to the point where it would be compelled to accept a truce that would end rocket attacks on southern Israel.

As bombs fell on symbols of Hamas authority and more casualties were rushed to hospitals, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told parliament that Israel was conducting “a war to the bitter end against Hamas” with the aim of “changing the situation in the south.”

But even as the Palestinian death toll rose well over 300 after three days of bombardment, Gaza’s militants struck back, signaling continued defiance of the Israeli onslaught.

Fresh salvos of rockets and mortars were fired at Israel, killing three people: an Israeli Arab construction worker in the coastal city of Ashkelon; a woman in Ashdod, farther north, and a soldier stationed near the border. Warning sirens wailed in border communities as anxious residents took cover in safe rooms and shelters.

The army declared a closed military zone in border areas where armored forces and infantry were gathered for a possible thrust into the Gaza Strip. A military spokeswoman said the area was being closed “for operational reasons.”

In Monday’s strikes Israeli aircraft blasted the Hamas Interior Ministry, which controls the security forces, the Cabinet building, an official guest house and a building near the home of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, in the Shati refugee camp.

Another strike destroyed a five-story building of the Islamic University, a prominent Hamas-linked institution, which housed laboratories that the Israeli army said had been used for development of rockets.

Palestinians said other strikes targeted homes of militants, mosques, police posts, Hamas-run organizations, workshops suspected of manufacturing rockets and Gaza’s fishing marina. The death toll in three days of attacks reached at least 350, with more than 1,500 wounded, according to Dr. Mu’awiya Hassanein, head of emergency services in the Gaza Strip.

Most of the dead were members of the Hamas police, but United Nations agencies said dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed in the strikes on targets in densely populated areas.

Among the dead were five sisters, aged 4 to 15, killed by a strike near their home in the Jabalya refugee camp. A toddler and two teenage boys were killed in a strike that was aimed at a Hamas commander in the southern town of Rafah, Hassanein said.

Palestinians in Gaza reported that they received taped messages over their phones from the Israeli military warning that homes containing weapons would be bombed. Israeli army officials say Hamas militants often store weapons and explosives in civilian neighborhoods.

Israel appeared to be enjoying considerable diplomatic leeway in pressing the assault on Hamas, with Washington placing the onus for restoring calm squarely on the militant Islamic group.

“The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters in Texas. “In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable cease-fire.”

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the United States was “vigorously engaged” in trying to restore a cease-fire “where Hamas must stop its rocket attacks on Israel.”

At the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki Moon condemned Israel’s use of force as excessive and called for an immediate cease-fire.

“The frightening nature of what is happening on the ground, in particular its effects on children – who are more than half the population – troubles me greatly,” he said. “I have continuously stressed the need for strict observance of international humanitarian law.”


The Israeli bombardments have reduced buildings to rubble and kept residents hunkered down in their homes, calming frightened children and coping with power outages worsened by the attacks.

Hospitals short of supplies after months of Israeli sanctions have been overwhelmed by casualties. Israel allowed in trucks with food and medical supplies Monday, and Egypt opened the Rafah crossing for delivery of humanitarian aid sent from Arab countries. Some wounded Palestinians were moved from Gaza to Egypt.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian government in the West Bank, condemned the “sweeping Israeli aggression against Gaza,” and Ahmad Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel, said there could be no further talks as long as the Israeli assault continued.

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