Key Hamas Targets Hit by Heaviest Shelling Yet

Israeli aircraft, tanks, and navy gunboats targeted symbols of Hamas control in Gaza City early today in the heaviest night of bombardment in three weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a "prolonged" campaign in Gaza. The overnight strikes hit the home of Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, as well as government offices and the headquarters of the Hamas satellite-TV station.

Hamas leaders remained defiant in the aftermath of the Israeli onslaught. "My house is not more valuable than the houses of other people, destroying stones will not break our determination," Haniyeh said in a statement. Israeli shells also hit a fuel tank of the Gaza Strip's only power plant today, forcing the plant to shut down, a spokesman for Gaza's electricity distribution company says. Even before the strike, Gaza residents had electricity for only about three hours a day, and the strike is bound to reduce supplies even further. (More Israel stories.)