Isreal strikes house of gaza leader

Israeli aircraft, tanks and navy
gunboats targeted symbols of Hamas control in
Gaza City early on Tuesday in the heaviest
night of bombardment in three weeks of
Israel-Hamas fighting after Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a
"prolonged" campaign in Gaza.
The overnight strikes hit the home of the top
Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, as
well as government offices and the
headquarters of the Hamas satellite TV
station.
Israeli forces fired hundreds of flares that
turned the night sky bright orange. By
daybreak on Tuesday, a cloud of thick dust
from the explosions hung over Gaza City.
A Palestinian health official put the overall
Gaza death toll at 1 110. Israel has lost 53
soldiers, including four killed Monday in a
mortar attack in southern Israel, along with
two civilians and a Thai national.
Escalation
Signalling an escalation of Israel's Gaza
operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
told Israelis on Monday to be ready for a
"prolonged" war, and the military warned
Palestinians in three large neighbourhoods to
leave their homes and head immediately for
Gaza City.
Plumes of smoke rose above the Al Shorouq
media building in central Gaza City which
houses the offices of the Hamas-run Al Aqsa
television and radio. Hours earlier, at least
two major explosions hit the media building,
one of the tallest in Gaza, starting a fire on
the roof and shaking surrounding buildings.
AP video showed a massive flash as the first
strike hit the top of the building, sending
debris raining down. The building also houses
offices of a number of Arab satellite television
news channels.
The Abu Khadra government complex in Gaza
City was also badly damaged by the Israeli
attacks.
Defiance
Hamas leaders remained defiant in the
aftermath of the Israeli onslaught
"My house is not more valuable than the
houses of other people, destroying stones will
not break our determination," Haniyeh said.
Netanyahu defended the Gaza air and ground
offensive, saying in a televised speech Monday
that "there is no war more just than this".
The overnight strikes came after a day of
heavy Hamas-Israeli fighting in which nine
children were killed by a strike on a Gaza
park where they were playing, according to
Palestinian health officials - a tragedy that
each side blamed on the other.
Israeli tanks also resumed heavy shelling in
border areas of Gaza, killing five people,
including three children and a 70-year-old
woman, and wounding 50 in the town of
Jebaliya, which was among the areas warned
to evacuate, the Red Crescent said.
Many Jebaliya residents said they did not
dare attempt an escape. Sufian Abed Rabbo
said his extended family of 17 had taken
refuge under the stairway in their home.
"God help us. We have nothing to do but
pray," the 27-year-old told The Associated
Press by phone. "I don't know who left and
who stayed, but in our street, we are all very
scared to move."