told Parliament on Monday as his air force struck at the organization's civic institutions — the Islamic University, Interior Ministry and presidential guesthouse.
As the conflict enters its fourth day, with no active diplomacy and anti-Israel protesters taking to the streets around the Arab world, there appeared to be no quick end to the largest assault on Gaza.
Hamas killed three Israelis on Monday after firing more than 70 rockets, including a long-range one into the booming city of Ashdod some 18 miles from Gaza, where it hit a bus stop, killing a woman and injuring two other people. Earlier, a rocket hit nearby Ashkelon, killing an Israeli-Arab construction worker and wounding three of his colleagues.
In Gaza, residents pulled relatives from the rubble of prominent institutions leveled by waves of Israeli F-16 attacks, as hospitals struggled to keep up with the wounded and the dead and doctors scrambled for scarce medical supplies. Hamas gunmen shot accused collaborators with Israel in public; families huddled around battery-powered radios, desperate for news.
Barak said Israel would widen and deepen the attack if necessary and told Israeli lawmakers the military would continue the assault until Hamas no longer had the ability to fire rockets into Israel. Politicians on the left who supported the initial attack urged the government to seek a new cease-fire rather than continue the bombardment.
But the military created a two-mile war cordon along the Gaza border and amassed tanks and troops there, with commanders saying that a ground force invasion was a distinct possibility but had not yet been decided upon.
In Tehran, Iran a group of influential conservative Iranian clerics began an online registration drive seeking volunteers to fight Israel.
Barak had told lawmakers that Israel had nothing against the citizens of Gaza and that it had more than once offered its hand in peace to the Palestinian nation. "But we have an all-out war with Hamas and its offshoots," he said.
Israel sent in some 40 trucks of humanitarian relief, including blood from Jordan and medicine. Egypt opened its border with Gaza to some similar aid and to allow some of the wounded through.
At Shefaa Hospital in Gaza, the director, Dr. Hussein Ashour, said that keeping his patients alive from their wounds was an enormous challenge. He said there were some 1,500 wounded people distributed among Gaza's nine hospitals with far too few intensive care units, equipped ambulances or other vital equipment.
On Monday, Ashour was not the only official in charge. Armed Hamas militants in civilian clothes roamed the halls. Asked their function, they said it was to provide security. But there was internal bloodletting under way.
In the fourth-floor orthopedic section, a woman in her late 20s asked a militant to let her see Saleh Hajoj, her 32-year-old husband. She was turned away and left the hospital. Fifteen minutes later, Hajoj was carried out by young men pretending to transfer him to another ward. As he lay on the stretcher, he was shot in the left side of the head.
Hajoj, like five others who have been killed at the hospital this way in the past 24 hours, was accused of collaboration with Israel. He had been in the central prison awaiting trial by Hamas judges; when Israel destroyed the prison on Sunday he and the others were transferred to the hospital. But their trials were short-circuited.
Tuesday
23:04 Minister Wael Abu Faour told "Voice of Lebanon": contacts with the political forces of Lebanon and Palestine have stressed that there is no intention to involve Lebanon in the conflict
22:02 Rocket fired by Gaza militants hits Beersheba , Israel's 7th largest city, no casualties reported
21:37 UN issues a statement on Tuesday saying Middle East Quartet calls for "an immediate ceasefire that would be fully respected" in Gaza Strip.
21:28 French Foreign Minister Kouchner says EU calls for 'permanent' ceasefire in Gaza.
21:00 FM Salloukh left for Cairo to participate in the meeting of Arab foreign ministers
20:11 Bush calls Abbas and Fayyad to discuss 'sustainable' Gaza ceasefire. "They agreed that for any ceasefire to be effective, it must be respected, particularly by Hamas," White House spokesman said.
18:50 Hamas vows to hit Israel harder if the Jewish state continued its deadly bombardment of the former’s Gaza Strip stronghold. "If you decide to enter the Gaza Strip, the land in Gaza will burn under your feet, and it will explode under your soldiers. Gaza children will collect parts of your bodies and your tanks from the streets," a masked spokesman for Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in televised comments.
18:47 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would meet his foreign and defense ministers on Tuesday to consider French temporary truce proposal for Gaza
18:43 General secretariat of the March 14 alliance stressed, after meeting with Beirut's Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Aoude on Tuesday, that support given to Gaza should be within the framework of the law and the constitution as represented by Lebanon’s institutions.
18:29 French President Nicolas Sarkozy to meet head of Future bloc Saad Hariri on Friday to discuss bilateral relations and the current regional tensions caused by the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Strip.
17:39 "Al-Manar TV:" Continuous Israeli shelling on Gaza targeting the homes of leaders of the "Hamas" movement
16:40 U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon is to discuss the Gaza situation with foreign ministers of the quartet bloc.
16: 30 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said those who link their interests to the interests of the Zionists would go to hell.
16:28: Information Minister Tareq Mitri following cabinet meeting: the Cabinet decided to offer $1 million in aid to help destitute Palestinians in Gaza. Lebanon to launch a national contribution campaign. Wednesday is declared a national day of mourning, flags at half staff in solidarity with Gaza.
The Cabinet agreed to the call for holding an Arab summit, Lebanon’s participation at the summit is unconditional.
15:46 Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossam Zakki said to Future News that Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s call for action against the Egyptian government is absurd and interfering in Egyptian domestic affairs is unacceptable.
14:30 Al-Manar TV: Security forces stepped up measures around the Egyptian embassy in Beirut.
14:10 Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Israeli attacks on Gaza are rejected, adding that Egypt sought to extend the truce and reach inter-Palestinian accord. "We tell those who are seeking political gains at the expense of the Palestinian people that Palestinian blood is not cheap." ( This was in response to Nasrallah's (Hezbollah leader) attack against Egypt. Mubarak added " Egypt would not open the Rafah crossing, except for humanitarian purposes, in the absence of the Palestine Authority and European observers
13:55 The boat Karama ( Dignity ) enters the Lebanese territorial waters coming from Gaza, accompanied by a Lebanese armed forces boat.
13:15 Al-Manar TV said a Lebanese Navy boat sailed out of the Tyre port to escort the boat Karama.
13:00 Geagea to reporters in Bkirki: “Are we attempting to make efforts to save the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip or attempting to plot a coup and a revolution in the Middle East and against Arab regimes?” he asked. ( This was a response to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah statements , calling for uprising against Egyptian government )
12:34 AFP: Israeli Gaza offensive has killed 363 Palestinians and injured 1720 since Saturday
12:15 Protestors launch sit-in across the street from UNRWA offices in Tripoli in protest against the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
12:01 Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea meets Patriarch Sfeir at Bkirki.
11:40 Defense Minister Elias Murr presided over the military council and reviewed assignments carried out by the army, especially tasks of chasing wanted criminals.
11:29 Cabinet started its meeting at the Baabda Palace.
10:55 President Michel Suleiman ordered the Lebanese Navy to escort the boat Karama loaded with supplies to Gaza after it was rammed by an Israeli gunboat.
10:52 Two Palestinian sisters aged 4 and 11 killed by Israeli air attack
10:50 Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh leaves for Cairo later in the day to take part in the extraordinary meeting by Arab foreign ministers scheduled for Wednesday.
10:25 The bodies of two people were found near the main square of Deir al-Zahrani in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh.
9:15 MP Atef Majdalani: Israel is implementing a Nazi-Fascist policy against the Palestinian people the same way it treated the Lebanese in July 2006.
8:30 Minister Ibrahim Shamseddine told VOL that the cabinet might unanimously approve Lebanon’s participation in an emergency Arab summit on Gaza.
7:35 Health Minister Mohammed Khalife told VOL: Lebanon is seriously concerned over the expansion of Israeli attacks, and the key solution is to work toward an end to the ongoing assault.
07:05 King Abdullah II of Jordan donated blood to the relief campaign of Gaza
06:58 Nasrallah's remarks sparked angry reactions from politicians and party leaders in Egypt. The Egyptians considered the remarks as those of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
06:21 The Cabinet meeting will define the next move for Lebanon with regards to the Israeli attacks on Gaza
06:17 Lebanon is avoiding to become a party to the inter Arab divisions
06:15 Lebanon has been consulting with Arab leaders regarding participation in the Qatar summit
06:10 The cabinet will hold a meeting this morning at the Baabda Republican Palace
06:08 March 14 alliance is avoiding any response to Nasrallah to preserve the Lebanese unity
06:00 Ministerial sources: Lebanon is opposed to any Arab division and trying to work on this
05:58 Several meetings are taking place to ensure a united Lebanese stance towards the developments in Gaza
05:43 Lebanon supports the attendance of the Arab Foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday in Cairo and FM Salloukh will represent Lebanon
05:14 The Army Arrested wanted criminals and confiscated 22 vehicles, ammunition and drugs in a raid in Beqaa valley
Monday
23:49 "Arabiyeh": The headquarters of the Palestinian parliament in Gaza was hit by an Israeli Missile
23:12 Al Al Qassem brigade: Three Grad rockets were launched at the Israeli settlements of Nahal and Netifoot
22:59 Minister Qabbani told Future TV: The Army and the resistance realize that they have to spare Lebanon a battle with Israel and they plan to continue to work on ending the attack against Gaza
22:50 Israeli radio: Olmert, Livni and Barak are currently meeting to discuss the next step on Gaza and may decide to invade Gaza by land very soon
21:57 ANB: Hamas fires rockets at southern Israel . Israeli sources reported that 5 were wounded in Ashdod and 2 in Naha Aouz
21:45 New TV : Israeli raid on Eastern Gaza in response to the Hamas rocket attacks against Israel
21:30 Two were wounded in Ashdod Israel by Hamas Katyusha rockets
21:20 The EU Foreign Ministers to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow in Paris to discuss the situation in Gaza
20:59 PM Siniora will propose during tomorrow's cabinet meeting that Lebanon should work to assure maximum attendance of the Arab summit in support of Gaza
20:32 MP Takla told OTV: Nasrallah's speech showed a lot of self restraint. We hope Lebanon will agree to participate in the summit over the Gaza situation
20:25 Unifil official : We have been following our normal procedures, but we have intensified our patrols in south Lebanon to 400 daily with the cooperation of the Lebanese army . Our primary goal is to implement UNSCR 1701
20:20 U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon urged world leaders to work for halting the aggression against Gaza.
20:16 MP Khazen told OTV: Hezbollah is cautious about giving Israel an excuse to attack Lebanon
20:10 The Israeli Army said it bombed a truck loaded with Hamas rockets in northern Gaza.
20:05 The White House said Israel does not intend to occupy Gaza.
20: 00 The Shafaa Hospital in Gaza was evacuated after reports that it would be targeted by an Israeli air raid.
19:50 German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Hamas is responsible for the escalation of violence in Gaza.
19:48 Two people were killed in an air raid against the residence of a Hamas official at Jabalia Refugee Camp.
