ISRAEL CONTINUED its aerial bombardment of Gaza yesterday on the second day of the military campaign against Hamas, as troops massed on the border ahead of a possible ground incursion.
Among the targets hit yesterday was the main Hamas security compound in Gaza city, a Hamas television station, the Islamic University and a mosque, which, according to the Israeli military, was used by militants to store rockets.
In Ireland, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin issued a statement condemning the violence and called for an immediate end to hostilities on both sides. "The only viable solution at this stage is the restoration of a genuine and fully honoured ceasefire throughout Gaza and southern Israel," he said.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions denounced the air strikes as "totally disproportionate".
Some 40 tunnels, used to smuggle weapons from Egypt, were also destroyed. Egyptian guards opened fire to prevent Palestinians breaching the border following the bombing.
The Israeli onslaught, which began late on Saturday morning, followed warnings that Israel would hit back hard if the daily rocket attacks from Gaza continued.
Some 300 Palestinians have been killed in more than 300 air strikes. The casualty figures on Saturday marked the highest number of Palestinian fatalities on a single day since Israel was established in 1948.
Most of those killed were members of the Hamas security forces but the dead included women and children. The aerial pounding reduced to rubble almost all Hamas installations and bases across the Gaza Strip.
Despite the incessant bombing, militants still managed to fire a few dozen rockets into southern Israel yesterday. Two rockets landed close to the large port city of Ashdod, 40km north of Gaza - the longest-range projectiles fired so far by Gaza militants.
One Israeli has been killed in the rocket attacks since Saturday and a dozen wounded. The rocket fire was significantly lower than the predictions of Israeli security officials, who had issued warnings of 200 projectiles a day.
The Israeli cabinet has authorised the call-up of more than 6,000 army reservists. Infantry troops, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and artillery batteries massed on the Gaza border. Defence minister Ehud Barak said he would order "boots on the ground" if needed.
The UN security council expressed serious concern over the escalation and called on Israel and the Palestinians to immediately halt all violence and military activities. The UN statement called for a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and for opening border crossings into Gaza.
Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak allowed limited supplies of fuel and medicine into Gaza.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert told ministers to be prepared for a long campaign, saying the operation would continue until civilians no longer lived in fear of rocket attacks.
Foreign minister Tzipi Livni denied that Israel aimed at reoccupying the Gaza Strip. She also denied that Israel aimed to topple Hamas, which seized control of the Strip last year following clashes with secular Fatah forces.
The Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, urged Palestinians to use all forms of resistance, including suicide attacks.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas blamed Hamas for provoking the Israeli attacks by refusing to renew the six-month Egyptian-brokered ceasefire which expired earlier this month.
Israeli parties suspended campaigning for the February 10th elections.
The outcome of the conflict will undoubtedly affect the elections. Mr Barak, who also heads the Labor Party, realises that military success may be his last chance to prevent Labor achieving its worst ever showing.