Barrage of air strikes go on as Israelis pledge 'no hiding place' for the Hamas terrorists

Ground offensive looms as fears rise over fate of hostages

- Martin Bentham

A NEW barrage of airstrikes on Gaza was under way today as Israel announced it had resealed its border — and preparations continued for its anticipated ground offensive.

Today’s onslaught followed 200 airstrikes overnight and came as the Israeli military vowed that there would be “nowhere to hide” for Hamas terrorists inside Gaza. Photographs showed flattened buildings with apartment blocks, a telecoms headquarters, a mosque and hospitals among the sites said to have been hit. The Israeli military also disclosed that the bodies of around 1,500 Hamas militants killed during fighting inside Israel had been recovered, as videos circulated of atrocities involving the slaughter of Israelis taken captive during the surprise weekend attack.

Meanwhile, preparations continued for Israel’s widely anticipated ground offensive with military spokesman Lt-Col Richard Hecht disclosing that 35 battalions of its army are now stationed close to Gaza. He said the military was “building infrastructure for future operations” after yesterday’s warning from Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the airstrikes are “just the beginning” of his country’s response to Hamas’s weekend assault. The military action came as: