Israel In Third Day Of Assault

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israel’s air force is targeting symbols of Hamas power, as its assault on the Gaza Strip continues.

The three-day death toll has grown to at least 315, with about 1,400 wounded. The U.N. says at least 51 of the dead were civilians, and medics said eight children died in two strikes overnight.

One strike destroyed a five-story building at Islamic University, one of the most prominent Hamas symbols in Gaza. Others ravaged a Hamas security compound and destroyed a house next to the Hamas prime minister’s home.

Israel has doubled the number of troops around Gaza and called up several thousand reservists, but no full combat formations have yet been mobilized.

Israel’s campaign, its deadliest against Palestinians in decades, began Saturday in response to Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)