Gaza / PNN - Just before midnight the death toll in the Gaza Strip reached 295 Palestinians; by day break it was 307. The number of injured now exceeds 1,000 with 200 people in critical condition.

The emergency department at Al Shifa Hospital said that most of the injuries at Gaza’s largest hospital were caused by gunboat and helicopter fire and that 80 percent were not expected to survive.

A number of children were pulled from destroyed homes in both Gaza City and Khan Younis in the south early Monday. They were killed by Apache missile fire.

Late night Israeli forces again bombed Jabaliya Refugee Camp, known as the most densely populated place on earth. Four sisters were killed, inluding a 4 year old. A 14 month old baby was also killed in the last shelling of the camp to the northeast of Gaza City. Warplanes also fired at an official intelligence building in the central Strip, remaining in the airspace long past the destruction. The Olympics Committee Building is leveled as well. When Israeli forces fired on the tunnels in the southern Strip's Rafah, two people were killed and 22 injured.

In other overnight attacks Israeli forces killed at least two more Palestinians and another Hamas leader while targeting his home in Al Qarrrara, a small town just to the north of Khan Younis. Two additional people are reported killed in a late night bombing of Gaza City's Al Zeitoun neighborhood. Israeli forces also destroyed several buildings at the Islamic University.

The Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, who says the killings are in an effort to destroy Hamas, announced late Sunday that the ban would be lifted on 100 truck loads of humanitarian aid Monday. Palestinian Legislative Council member and Chairman of the Popular Committee against the Siege, Jamal Al Khudari, noted during the month and a half of closure that at least 160 truck loads of imports were needed per day during times of normal siege and occupation. He said that after days of closure much more was required, and now after two days of explosive attacks the need has increased exponentially.

The Hamas party continues to take the public blame in the western and Israeli press and dialogue for the death and destruction in Gaza. However, projectile launches are widely considered to be a front used by the Israeli administration to cover for the attacks. Meanwhile, the actual projectile launches that the elected government is being held responsible for are coming from all factions.

The leftist Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine declared on Sunday that there would be “no cease-fire with the occupation.” The PFLP asserted the right under international law of an occupied population to defend itself saying “the resistance is the chosen path of the Palestinian people and it is our legitimate right.” The leftist party's Abu Ali Mustafa  Brigades claimed responsibility late Sunday for firing at the Israeli military installation of Sofa in the southeastern Strip. The Fateh-linked armed resistance wing, Al Aqsa Brigades, launched two projectiles at Sderot and announced that the idea of renewing the “period of calm” with the Israelis was not an option. The Israeli administration did not honor the period of calm by continuing random incursions, siege, closure and control of services. Hamas is among the parties that have pointed this out.

The projectile launches that are being used in the public debate as the reason for the Israeli attacks are known to do little damage, regardless of their actual frequency. With the United States and Britain being the most vocal in blaming Hamas for the Israeli attacks, it is notable that the Vice President of European Parliament said late Sunday that Israel and the international community bear responsibility for the aggression and siege on the Gaza Strip.

A sit-in that took place in Abu Dhabi yesterday invited international sanctions against the Israelis. The Arab League, scheduled to meet again Wednesday, said the United Nations Security Council position was not enough. Jordanian parliamentarians who burned an Israeli flag during an emergency session in Amman on Sunday issued a demand that the Israeli ambassador be removed.