Israeli jets bomb Hamas weapons tunnels

GAZA, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Israeli jets Sunday bombed tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip, officials said.

The tunnels were targeted as warplanes struck positions held by the militant group Hamas in Gaza for a second day, with Palestinian medical sources telling CNN that at least 277 people have died and 600 have been wounded in the strikes. The airstrikes came as Hamas forces fired more rockets into Israel.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the strikes on the Rafah tunnels along Gaza's border with Egypt, saying 40 of the underground routes were targeted by warplanes. Witnesses told CNN two people were killed as two of the tunnels were hit by missiles.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday his nation would call up 7,000 reserve soldiers, subject to approval in the Knesset, CNN reported. While there was no sign of an Israeli ground operation in Gaza, Israeli ground troops and tanks were deployed in the area, CNN said.

About 210 targets associated with Hamas have been hit since Saturday, an Israeli spokesman said. Hamas militants have launched more than 110 rockets into Israel in that time. One Israeli woman was killed when a rocket landed on a home, CNN reported.

Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour, seeking a condemnation from the U.N. Security Council, told CNN Saturday, "There is no justification for punishing 1.5 million in the Gaza Strip because of the actions of a few."

The United Nations has called for the hostilities to stop but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at Sunday's Cabinet meeting the operation "is liable to continue for some time." Barak has said the attacks would continue until Hamas militants were ready to "change their behavior."

Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, a psychiatrist who oversees Gaza's mental health program, told CNN Gaza faces a "major humanitarian disaster" if the fighting continues. He said hospitals were "stretched out of the limits. We need blood and medicine and surgical equipment."