U.S. & World

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Reaction to the Gaza dispute is sharply divided along both political and ideological lines in New York City.

The violence may be taking place thousands of miles away, but in Booklyn, sentiments run strong on both sides of the latest Israeli-Hamas conflict.

"They don't have any food, milk…there's nothing to eat. It's very bad," said Bay Ridge resident Islam Ilkuid to CBS 2.

Ilkuid was referring to the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip, stuck between the Israeli offensive and Hamas.

But Flatbush resident David Adonolem has another perspective:

"I think Israel is protecting its own people. Just to give you an example, imagine Mexico or Canada were to bomb the United States, do you think we'd just sit here and do nothing. No, we'd have to protect our people."

These are American residents who have relatives among the dead. And make no mistake, they are emotionally invested in the outcome of what is Israel's deadliest offensive since the 1967 war.

Regardless of whether you're in a pro-Palestinian neighborhood in Bay Ridge or a pro-Israeli neighborhood in Borough Park, we hear the same thing. It's the other side's fault. But residents in both neighborhoods do agree they aren't sure how to end the violence.

"I don't think it will ever end," said Bay Ridge resident Anwar Makhalfa, "They say it's their land and we say it's our land."

Given the increasingly inflammatory rhetoric coming from both Israeli and Hamas officials, it's very possible peace of mind won't come to these local neighborhoods any time soon.

Israel's air force obliterated symbols of Hamas power on the third day of its overwhelming assault on Gaza on Monday, striking a house next to the Hamas premier's home, devastating a security compound and flattening a five-story building at a university closely linked to the Islamic group.

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak said his nation is engaged in an "all-out war" against Hamas.

The three-day death toll rose to 315, including seven children under the age of 15 who were killed in two separate strikes late Sunday and Monday, medics said. Israel launched the deadliest attack against Palestinians in decades on Saturday in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.

The Israelis have vowed to continue their onslaught until the attack "changes the situation" on the ground in Gaza, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips, though it's unclear what that means.

"Hamas needs to understand that the situation is going to be changed, and then we hope then we can live in peace," Livni told Rodriguez. She insisted the missile barrage was not a disproportionate response to the rocket fire from Palestinian militants.

Livni said, "Israel is looking to give its citizens a decent life, the right to live in peace and quiet like any other citizens in the world."

Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovitch told Sky News the chemistry lab at the Islamic University hit in Monday's strike was being used as a Hamas weapons factory.

The strikes appear to have gravely damaged Hamas' ability to launch rockets but a medium-range rocket fired at the Israeli city of Ashkelon killed a man there Monday and wounded several others. CBS News partner network Sky News' reporter in Ashkelon said at least nine Hamas rockets landed in the city Monday.

It was the second fatality in Israel since the beginning of the offensive and the first person ever to be killed by a rocket in Ashkelon, a city of 120,000.

On Sunday, Hamas missiles struck for the first time near the city of Ashdod, twice as far from Gaza as Ashkelon and only 25 miles from Israel's heart in Tel Aviv.

Phillips, reporting from Gaza, says the threat of Israeli ground action is hanging over the current conflict. Military reserves have been called up, but there has been no overt sign of any significant troop build-up on the Israel-Gaza border.

Israel did declare a buffer-zone around the border a closed military zone Monday, kicking out all non-service members - a move which could give them greater room to maneuver in secret.

At first light Monday, strong winds blew black smoke from the bombed sites in Gaza City over deserted streets. The air hummed with the buzz of pilotless drones and the roar of jets, punctuated by the explosions of new air strikes.

Most of those killed since Saturday were members of Hamas security forces, though the precise numbers remain unclear. The United Nations agency in charge of Palestinian refugees said at least 51 of the dead were civilians. A rise in civilian casualties could intensify international pressure on Israel to abort the offensive.

Israel's intense bombings - more than 300 air strikes since midday Saturday - wreaked unprecedented destruction in Gaza, reducing buildings to rubble.

One strike destroyed a five-story building in the women's wing at Islamic University, one of the most prominent Hamas symbols. Another attack ravaged a compound controlled by Preventive Security, one of the group's chief security arms, and a third destroyed a house next to the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister.

Like other Hamas leaders, Haniyeh is in hiding.

Phillips, reporting from Gaza, says the threat of Israeli ground action is hanging over the current conflict. Military reserves have been called up, but there has been no overt sign of any significant troop build-up on the Israel-Gaza border.

Late on Sunday, Israeli aircraft attacked a building in the Jebaliya refugee camp next to Gaza City, killing a woman, a toddler and three young teenage girls, Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said.

In the southern town of Rafah, a toddler and his two teenage brothers were killed in an air strike aimed at a Hamas commander, Hassanain said. In Gaza City, another attack killed a man and his wife.

Shlomo Brom, a former senior Israeli military official, said it was the deadliest force ever used in decades of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

The White House was mum about the situation in Gaza on Sunday after speaking out expansively on Saturday, blaming Israel's retaliatory strikes on Hamas. The president spoke by phone with National Security Advisor Steve Hadley Sunday morning to receive an update on the situation, reports CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller.

President-elect Barack Obama, vacationing in Hawaii, was also briefed and is monitoring the situation closely. Obama senior advisor David Axelrod told CBS News' Face The Nation on Sunday that the president-elect "recognizes the special relationship between the United States and Israel" and that he wants to help bring about peace

Abdel Hafez, a 55-year-old history teacher, waited outside a Gaza City bakery to buy bread, one of the few people visible outdoors. He said he was not a Hamas supporter but believed the strikes would only increase support for the group.

"Each strike, each drop of blood are giving Hamas more fuel to continue," he said.

In Jerusalem, Israel's Cabinet approved a call-up of 6,500 reserve soldiers Sunday in apparent preparation for a ground offensive. The final decision to call up more reserves has yet to be made by the defense minister, Ehud Barak, and the Cabinet decision could be a pressure tactic.

Israel has doubled the number of troops on the Gaza border since Saturday and deployed an artillery battery. Several hundred reservists have already been summoned to join their units but no full combat formations have been mobilized so far.

Livni said Sunday that Israel has no intention of completely occupying Gaza. "Our goal is not to reoccupy

Military experts said Israel would need at least 10,000 soldiers for a full-scale invasion.

Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year military occupation, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to the territory to hunt militants firing rockets at Israeli towns. But it has shied away from retaking the entire strip for fear of getting bogged down in urban warfare.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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