Scenes from the Gaza Strip

Scenes from the Gaza Strip

An explosion is seen as missiles fired from an Israeli aircraft fall towards a target in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009. 

Israeli infantry soldiers walk into Gaza on January 04, 2009 on the border between Gaza and Israel. Israeli forces are battling Hamas fighters as they attempt to take the rocket launch areas used by Hamas since Israeli troops entered Gaza after nightfall on Saturday. It is expected that this will be the first wave of assault, with some 10,000 Israeli troops and hundreds of tanks massed on the Gaza border.

Smoke from Israeli artillery shelling covers the ground of the northern Gaza Strip on January 3, 2009. 

An Israeli police officer near a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip which landed near Sderot, southern Israel Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009.

An Israeli gunner covers his ears as a mobile artillery piece fires at a target in the Gaza Strip, on the Israel-Gaza border, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009. Israel seized control of high-rise buildings and attacked houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels as it pressed forward with its offensive against the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers on Monday.

The sun sets on the Israel-Gaza border January 4, 2009.

Palestinians hold white flags as a signal for Israeli troops after leaving their house near the area where Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants exchange fire outside Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009.

Artillery shells explode above Gaza City on January 4, 2008, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border.

A Palestinian medic surveys the damage to a mobile medical clinic destroyed after an Israeli air strike in Gaza January 5, 2009. Four ambulances and three mobile clinics were destroyed in the bombing at Health Care Union, medical workers and witnesses said.

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a bomb dropped by an Israeli air force F-16 jet exploding in Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip, on January 3, 2009.