Heaviest-yet Israeli bombardment kills at least 100, knocks out power plant

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — In the three weeks of war with Israel, residents of Gaza hadn’t seen the kind of bombardment that Israel unleashed today.

The heavy strikes came a day after Israel’s prime minister warned of a “prolonged” campaign against Hamas.

Palestinian officials say ten members of one family were among at least 100 Palestinians killed in today’s Israeli air strikes and tank shelling. Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of attacks, leveling the home of the top Hamas leader in Gaza.

Israel’s escalation of its campaign in Gaza is dealing a new blow to international efforts to reach a sustainable truce.

The only power plant in the Gaza Strip has been shut down, after Palestinian officials said it was hit by Israeli tank shells. Hours after the plant was hit, a tall column of thick black smoke was still rising from a burning fuel tank.

The shutdown is expected to lead to further serious disruptions of the flow of electricity and water to the 1.7 million people packed into the narrow Palestinian territory.

%@AP Links

199-a-15-(Adele Raemer (RAH’-mur), Israeli living near Gaza border, in interview)-“fear, ’cause it’s not”-Adele Raemer, who lives close to Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, says she’s worried every day and night as one of the few in her neighborhood who hasn’t left during the Israeli offensive. COURTESY: Sky News ((mandatory on-air credit)) (29 Jul 2014)

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189-a-16-(Fawaz Gerges (FAH’-wahz JUR’-jehs), international relations professor, London School of Economics, in AP interview)-“cease-fire initiative further”-Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East analyst and professor at the London School of Economics, says the move by the Palestinian Liberation Organization is a step to draw closer to Egypt, which Israel says offers a cease-fire proposal it will consider. (29 Jul 2014)

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APPHOTO TSA101: Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of Israeli Staff Sgt. Adi Briga, who was killed in the Gaza war, during his funeral in the costal city of Ashkelon, Israel, Tuesday, July 29, 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel must be ready for a “prolonged” military operation in the Gaza Strip and will “act aggressively and responsibly” until the mission is completed. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov) (29 Jul 2014)

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APPHOTO XAH116: A Palestinian worker carries a mattress from a destroyed carton factory after it was hit in an Israeli air strike in the Nusseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, July 29, 2014. Israel escalated its military campaign against Hamas on Tuesday, striking symbols of the militant group’s control in Gaza and firing tank shells that Palestinian officials said shut down the strip’s only power plant in the heaviest bombardment in the war so far. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) (29 Jul 2014)

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