Saturday, 3 January 2009 – DAY EIGHT
For the 8th consecutive day, IOF warplanes continued to target houses and residential buildings, while naval and land artillery targeted residential communities and agricultural lands. The Northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City witnessed the most violent attacks launched since the beginning of the offensive. Israeli warplanes bombed the American International School of Gaza in the west of Beit Lahia. IOF bombed a mosque in Jabalya town at prayer time. Fifteen Palestinian civilians were killed. At around 17:20 PM an Israeli warplane fired a missile at the western entrance of Ibrahim al-Maqadma Mosque in the north of Jabalya town, killing 15 worshipers.
In the evening, Israeli land forces moved into the Gaza Strip from the north, middle, and south. Israeli vehicles and troops rolled into the northern Gaza Strip from a number of directions, covered by intensive shelling and Israeli warplanes. The IOF penetrated into the east of al-Zaytoun, al-Tuffah and al-Shojaeya neighborhoods of Gaza City. Artillery and aerial bombardment targeted residential areas and agricultural land located along the border with Israel. The bombing killed 13 Palestinians, 9 of whom were civilians, including 3 children and 3 women. All were killed inside their houses after being shelled by Israeli tanks. IOF rolled into eastern Rafah town in the vicinity of Gaza International Airport amidst intensive shelling of houses and agricultural lands. Due to the shelling, a huge number of Palestinians were forced to leave their houses. The death toll of this day was 32 Palestinians, including 24 civilians; 8 children and 1 woman.