Israeli Air Strikes Continue in Gaza

The Israeli air attacks on targets in Gaza are continuing for a sixth day after the Israeli government rejected a proposed ceasefire Wednesday, but pledged to expedite humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

From The Washington Post:

A top Hamas leader was killed Thursday in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, as violence entered its sixth day and a Hamas rocket destroyed part of an apartment building in the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

Nizar Rayyan, a cleric who was one of Hamas’s most hardline political leaders, had called for renewed suicide bombings inside Israel and refused to go into hiding, as other Hamas leaders had done. His death, confirmed in a statement issued by Hamas on Thursday, marked the first known fatality of a senior leader of the militant group since Israel began air strikes on Saturday. [...]

Israeli aircraft and naval forces attacked about 20 Hamas targets in Gaza Thursday, including a government complex, the Israeli military said. The death toll in Gaza rose to at least 410, including dozens of civilians. More than 1,600 people in Gaza have been wounded.

According to The Post, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said a ground assault remains “an option.” The New York Times quotes an unnamed Israeli military official saying that a “limited ground operation aimed at destroying remaining sites was likely once the wet weather cleared.”