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Israel bombed a mosque on Friday that, he said, was used to store weapons, and destroyed the homes of at least 10 suspected extremists of Hamas, but international pressure forced it to allow hundreds Palestinians in third countries with passports to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israel continued to accumulate artillery, armored units and infantry forces on the border with Gaza in an indication that the air offensive that began a week ago against the rulers of Gaza could soon become an attack by land.


At the same time, tend to increase international requests for a cease-fire, and French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected in the region next week to promote a halt to the violence. Israel has been reluctant to a truce, and the U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said it has no plans to travel to the region.

"Hamas holds hostage the people of Gaza since its illegal coup against the forces of the president (of the Palestinian Authority) Mahmud Abbas," Rice said in Washington on Friday and accused the extremist group to use the territory as a "launching pad" for rockets to Israel. As a result, he said, Palestinians in Gaza carried "a very bad life."


"We work for a ceasefire that does not allow restoring the status quo ante, where Hamas could launch rockets," said Rice. "It is clear that there should be a ceasefire as soon as possible but we want a cease-fire that is lasting and sustainable."

The offensive triggered protests on Friday against Israel in the Middle East, in the Muslim world and parts of Europe.


Israel attacked targets and new Palestinian extremists fired at least 30 rockets into southern Israel. But Israel opened its border with Gaza to leave nearly 300 Palestinians with passports from third countries.

"There is no water, electricity or medicine. It's hard to survive. Gaza is destroyed," said Jawaher Haggi, a Palestinian-American 14 years to cross into Israel. He stated that his uncle died in an air strike when he tried to get medicine for his brother _el of Haggi_ father, who died later by his illness.


Many of the evacuees were women of foreign descent married to Palestinians who left their children. Spouses who did not have foreign citizenship were not allowed to leave.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported that the majority of the evacuees were Russian or Eastern Europeans, and they are authorized to request the departure of foreign embassies. He said that the decision had no relation to military plans.


Israel began air attacks on Saturday in a bid to halt weeks of rocket attacks become more frequent and more far-reaching from Gaza. The response has been a major blow to Hamas, but has not decreased their firing of projectiles.

On Friday, rockets injured four Israelis and damaged houses in the city of Ashkelon in southern Israel, police reported.


The Israeli army telephoned some houses in Gaza to warn of an imminent attack. In some cases, also fired a pump noise to warn civilians that homes would be destroyed with missiles, said Palestinian and Israeli authorities.

After destroying the premises of the security forces of Hamas, Israel became the focus group leaders. The Israeli fighter jets attacked some 20 houses that were suspected extremists of Hamas and members of other armed organizations, Palestinians said. A man died in an attack on the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.


Other air operations killed five Palestinians, including a teenage boy in eastern Gaza and three children playing in the south of the strip, the official said Mosaiya Hassanain of the Ministry of Health.

At least 400 people in Gaza have died and 1,700 have been injured in the Israeli campaign, Palestinian officials said. Hamas has said that nearly half of the dead was up to their security forces.


The UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian Territories, Maxwell Gaylard, said that at least 100 of the dead were civilians, and many were women and children. The United Nations also said that there was a health and food crisis in Gaza, despite an increase in shipments of humanitarian assistance.