JERUSALEM (AP) Israel dramatically escalated its aerial assault in Gaza Thursday hitting hundreds of Palestinian targets, as medics reported 24 more people killed in strikes that hit a home and a beachside cafe.
Eight Palestinian family members, including five children, were killed in an early morning air strike that destroyed at least two homes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Health ministry said.
Israel’s military made no comment on what would be the deadliest strike since the offensive began on Tuesday.
Across the Gaza Strip, plumes of smoke and rubble marked the aftermath of Israeli attacks in the most serious outbreak of hostilities between Palestinian militants and Israel’s powerful armed forces in two years.
“The Jews say they are fighting Hamas and fighting gunmen while all the bodies we have seen on television are those of women and children,” said Khaled Ali, 45, a Gaza taxi driver.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Israel struck more than 320 targets overnight. That brought the total number of targets hit to 750 in three days of the massive offensive that has killed at least 80 Palestinians.
Lerner said Israel has already mobilized 20,000 reservists for a possible ground operation into Gaza, but for the time being Israel remained focused on maximizing its air campaign. A ground invasion could lead to heavy civilian casualties on the Palestinian side while putting Israeli ground forces in danger.
“The ground option needs to be the last option and only if it is absolutely necessary. It is a carefully designed plan of action,” Lerner said.
The Israeli security Cabinet was meeting to discuss its next moves.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said the operation was going according to plan.
Palestinian medical officials said a strike early Thursday struck a home in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing eight members of the Al Haj family. Tractors cleared away large piles of debris from the demolished building as one man laid atop a mattress and blankets that remained.
Earlier, at least eight others were killed when a strike hit a Gaza beach cafe where they were watching a World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands, said Mahmoud Sawali, who said he lost at least two of his brothers in the attack.
“We only ask of help from God. Here I have two brothers who are martyrs, and I’m looking for the third,” he said.
After an overnight lull, militants retaliated with barrage of rockets toward central and southern Israel. Remnants of a long-range rocket fired from Gaza landed in a gas station in south Tel Aviv after being shot down by Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense system.
The longer range of the rockets fired from Gaza has disrupted life across southern and central Israel, where people have been forced to remain close to home, and kindergartens and summer camps have closed. Israeli television has been a constant news loop with updates from both sides of the border and even radio music stations were interrupting songs with news of every siren informing of incoming rockets.
Besides firing toward Israel’s two largest cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Palestinians also launched a rocket that reached the town of Zichron Yaakov, more than 100 kilometers north of Gaza.
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