Death toll in Gaza climbs to 40 as mutual Israel-Hamas strikes go on

The death toll in the Gaza Strip climbed on Saturday to 40, while another 350 were wounded in the Israeli operation "Operation Pillar of Defense," as Israeli war jets harshly struck Islamic Hamas movement constructions as well as military targets. As the Israeli air operation on Gaza continued on Saturday, Hamas militants kept launching rockets on southern Israel, despite regional and international efforts to reach calm and defuse tension in the territory that Hamas movement has been ruling since June 2007. Ashrad al-Qedra, spokesman for the Hamas-run Health Ministry, told Xinhua that, among the 40 dead Palestinians, 14 were civilians -- mostly children and women, and 90 out of the around 350 wounded were women and children. Al-Qedra also said that Mohamed Yassin, who was critically wounded in one of Saturday's airstrikes in southeast Gaza city, died later in Shiffa Hospital of his wound. Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad movement, said Yassin is one of its members. Yassin, who was wearing the military uniform of Islamic Jihad, was hit directly by an Israeli missile early in the morning. He is the tenth who was killed in Saturday's intensive Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Medical sources said three Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades activists were killed in an airstrike on central Gaza Strip, while five others were killed in a similar airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. A Palestinian also died of his wounds in hospital in Gaza on Saturday. Hamas security officials told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the Israeli war jets carried out 200 airstrikes Friday overnight and on Saturday on various targets which included rockets launchers, security bases and government establishments. The toughest airstrike was on Israeli Prime Minister Ismail Haneya's headquarters in northwest Gaza city, and the main police headquarters of Hamas was also bombarded and badly damaged. Security posts for Hamas government were also targeted all over the Gaza Strip. Saturday's Israeli airstrikes also targeted houses, as security officials said that five houses over the Gaza Strip were struck by Israeli air-to-ground missiles. The house of Ibrahim Salah, who works in the Hamas ministry of interior in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip was hit and 30 people were injured. Israeli mass media also reported on Saturday that the Israeli army has targeted the house of Salah after it came to the army's information that apart from being an employee in the interior ministry, he is also a member of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas armed wing, and was involved in firing rockets. Medical sources said that around 30 people in the neighborhood were injured when Salah's house was struck by four Israeli missiles, while Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that the Israelis "will pay a heavy price for their crimes which overcame the red limits." "Targeting Salah house and the other four houses in addition to targeting Hamas government and security posts shows that Israel has plan to target everything moving in the Gaza Strip," said Abu Zuhri, referring to 830 Israeli airstrikes carried out on the strip since Wednesday. The development of violence in the Gaza Strip reduced the focus on the undeclared efforts to reach calm between the Palestinian factions and Israel. Egypt has been leading mediations and efforts to make the two sides agree on a truce. Yousef Rezqah, an aide to Hamas premier Haneya, told Xinhua that there are ideas discussed by Egypt with European parties for a truce. However, he said that these ideas need preparations related to reaching guarantees that stop the ongoing Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. "These guarantees would also discuss the ongoing Israeli siege that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip since June 2007," said Rezqah. However, Israeli radio reported that the ongoing rockets attacks on Israel, would urge it to go soon for a large-scale ground operation into the Gaza Strip.