Scores of Gazans, including several children and women, have been killed in ongoing Israeli airstrikes that began on the morning of December 27. According to sources coming out of Gaza, some 140 people have been killed in the strikes, which have continued up until press time. Hamas police commander Tawfiq Jaber was proclaimed among the dead in the Israeli airstrikes, which involve F-16 fighter planes.

While Israel says it has pinpointed precise targets which include Hamas security headquarters, scenes coming out of Gaza have shown civilians being carried into hospitals. A statement released by the Israeli army following the beginning of the operation stated that, "The operation will continue, will be expanded and will deepen if necessary."

According to Israeli sources, the operation is "just the beginning", saying Israel's air force has struck 30 to 40 targets so far. Israel has reported that two rockets were fired at Askalan from the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Palestinian NGOs in Gaza are calling on Palestinians to donate blood to help deal with the thousands of injuries coming into the already under-equipped hospitals in the Strip.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has strongly condemned the attack on Gaza, his spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdeineh calling on the international community to intervene to halt the massacre.

Israel has been drumming up support for a military operation in Gaza ever since the six-month truce ended with Hamas earlier this month. Since then, there have been Egyptian efforts to renew the truce and restore a semblance of calm in the Strip, which resulted in a 24-hour ceasefire on December 22, basically aimed at allowing humanitarian aid into the Strip from the Egyptian side, after Israel refused to do so. While Egypt claims it was seeking to score a ceasefire for a longer period and Hamas claims it would have agreed as long as Israel adhered to its conditions, the ceasefire expired one day later.

Since then, Palestinian groups have been firing homemade rockets into Israeli territory and the Israeli army has carried out a number of air and ground strikes that have taken several Palestinian lives. Prior to the December 27 operation, six Palestinians belonging to the Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades were killed by Israeli troops on December 24 – three in armed clashes with Israeli soldiers, two while carrying out a military operation and one in an Israeli airstrike. Two children were also wounded in a separate air strike.

On December 25, the Israeli security cabinet approved a "limited operation" into the Gaza Strip, ostensibly to halt the firing of rockets into Israeli territory. During a meeting with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak on Christmas Day, Israeli Foreign Minister and head of Kadima Tzipi Livni said her country would "silence the rockets" in any way it had to. Days earlier, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that although Israel "would not rush into war", it would also not rule out the possibility.

The Israeli decision came following 22 projectiles fired into Israel, but with no injuries. Egypt has said it would beef up its security along its border with Gaza in anticipation of an Israeli operation so as to avoid security breeches similar to those that took place at the beginning of this year when Gazans stormed the Rafah border into Egyptian territory.

A day later, on December 26, two Palestinian girls were killed when a rocket, which was aimed at Israeli territory, fell short of its target and hit a home in Beit Lahiya. Five-year old Hanin Abu Khousa and her cousin 12-year old Sabah Abu Khousa were killed when the rocket landed on their house. Three others were injured. While no Palestinian group took responsibility for the rocket, Hamas has said it would open an investigation into the incident. Also on that day, Hamza Shahin of Jabaliya was pronounced dead after being seriously wounded by an Israeli airstrike. Shahin was apparently firing a homemade projectile when he was struck by an Apache-fired missile.

On December 20, 24 year-old Ali Hijazi, a member of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was killed in Israeli shelling in Gaza. Two others were injured.

Even before Israel's proclamation of war on the Gaza Strip, the situation there has been dire. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have gone without electricity or fuel sources for weeks and food and medicines are scarce. After the official truce between Hamas and Israel ended, Israel said it would not allow in humanitarian aid as long as rockets continued to be fired into its territory. Since then, only sporadic trickles of aid have been allowed in, including some several trucks on December 25 carrying food, fuel and medicines.

During the 24 hour ceasefire, Israel temporarily opened three crossings allowing 45 trucks into the Strip including 25 which belonged to UNRWA. The borders were then shut tight soon after.

Needless to say, Hamas officials in Gaza have blamed the failure of the ceasefire on Israel, saying it would hold Israel responsible for any further deterioration of the situation. The group also said it would renew suicide bombings into Israel if Israel insisted on breaking the ceasefire and continued to bomb Gaza.

In other news, the Israeli military court in Ofer sentenced Secretary General of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Saadat, to 30 years in prison on December 25. Saadat, who has been in Israeli custody since 2006, was charged with heading the leftist movement and organizing its activities. The charge sheet did not, however, include any charges against Saadat for involvement in the assassination of Israeli minister Rehavaam Zeevi by PFLP operatives in 2001. PFLP officials have said this proves the Israeli verdict is based on political rather than military considerations.

For his part, Saadat spoke to the court, saying he did not recognize its legitimacy, adding that he was "proud to be part of the Palestinian people and its national movements."

On December 24, 65-year old Jumaa Mousa died in the Ramleh Prison Hospital. Jumaa, a Jerusalemite from the Shufat Refugee Camp, had been in Israeli prison since 1994 and was serving a life sentence when he succumbed to a battery of illnesses he was suffering from and which the Palestinian prisoners' movement say were neglected by Israel's prison authorities.

On December 20, prisoners at the Beituniya-area Ofer detention center went on hunger strike after prison authorities stormed their tents and sprayed them with hot water. Some prisoners said they were beaten during the search. Clashes ensued and dozens of prisoners were injured by rubber coated bullets and tear gas inhalation. Israeli prison authorities also said three prison guards were injured in the melee.

Before leaving office next February, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems to want to secure the status quo of Jerusalem. On December 23, he called for a completion of the separation wall around the city by the end of 2009 in the area Israel calls the "Jerusalem envelope", which covers 168 kilometers.