JERUSALEM AND GAZA CITY — Israeli warplanes expanded their assault Sunday on the Gaza Strip, launching missile strikes on the network of tunnels to Egypt that serve as a vital lifeline for the besieged enclave.
Other airstrikes targeted a large prison in downtown Gaza City and vehicles that the Israelis said were carrying Palestinian militants. Israeli tanks massed along the Gaza border as the Jewish state called up more than 6,000 reservists in possible preparation for a land assault against the Hamas movement, which controls the coastal strip.
As darkness fell, the situation on Gaza's southern border with Egypt was chaotic and fluid. Egyptian border police traded sporadic gunfire with militants amid reports that a large group of Gazans had tried to breach the border fence that Egypt has kept sealed for more than a year. One Palestinian and one Egyptian border police officer were killed by gunfire.
"About 100, 150 Palestinians jumped over the border fence to the Egyptian side," said Ahmed Radwan, speaking on the phone from the town of Rafah in southern Gaza. "They are about 300 meters [about 980 feet] into the Egyptian side but have been prevented by Egyptian forces from going any further."
Fighters from Hamas and other militant factions launched at least 30 rockets toward southern Israel, according to the Israeli army. That was fewer than half the number of projectiles launched Saturday as militants struck back after Israel began its aerial assault with strikes on police stations and security compounds throughout Gaza.
Israeli army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi reportedly told the Cabinet on Sunday that 50% of Hamas' rocket-launching capabilities had been destroyed.
However, two of the Gazan rockets reached deeper into Israel than previously reported, landing near the coastal city of Ashdod, about 20 miles north of Gaza.
No serious injuries were reported, but the increase in the rockets' range seemed to confirm concerns that Hamas was developing the ability to target some of Israel's largest cities.
Israeli airstrikes hit the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University late Sunday night, causing minor injuries. A second missile attack struck a mosque in the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing seven people, according to local medical sources.
The two-day death toll in Gaza climbed to 303, with Palestinian medical officials saying that a third of the victims were civilians, a statement that could not be confirmed. An estimated 900 people had been injured.
