Strikes Destroy Ministry in Gaza, Kill 10 Palestinians

Smoke from rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian fighters can be seen above Gaza City on a day of intense operations. (By Hatem Moussa -- Associated Press)

Barhoum said the airstrike on the Interior Ministry "is a message that everything inside Gaza is a target."

An opinion poll released Wednesday showed that a significant majority of Israelis -- 64 percent -- favor a cease-fire with Hamas. The group, which Israel considers a terrorist organization, has said it is willing to negotiate such a truce. The Israeli government has rejected the idea.

Previous opinion polls have shown that most Israelis would also favor an invasion of Gaza, if it would help stop the rockets.

The violence Wednesday began with an Israeli airstrike on a van transporting Hamas military trainers near the central Gazan city of Khan Younis, according to Palestinian and Israeli military sources. Five people were killed.

In the afternoon, Hamas began launching rockets. The deadly strike on the student came as he was walking in the parking lot of Sapir College. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene.

Another rocket hit a factory cafeteria just after the employees had left, and a third hit a house. Two people were injured in the strikes.

"The situation here is very tense. Rockets landed here for two hours without a break," said Michael Amsalam, a council member in Sderot. "It is a very unpleasant situation here today. There is a strong feeling of helplessness."

[Early Thursday in Japan, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Hamas rocket attacks against Israel "need to stop," the Associated Press reported. She met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who also was visiting the country.]

At dusk, rockets also struck the Israeli city of Ashkelon, six miles north of Gaza, although they did not cause any injuries. One landed next to a hospital where the wounded in Sderot are often taken for treatment.

As the rockets streamed out of Gaza, Israeli forces attacked the rocket launchers. Palestinian hospital officials said four civilians were killed in those strikes, including two boys younger than 10 and a 17-year-old. The officials said the boys had gone to the scene where rockets were fired earlier in the day and may have been mistaken for fighters.

The Interior Ministry strike came late Wednesday and was accompanied by attacks on five other targets suspected of being sites for manufacturing rockets or for launching them, the Israeli military said.

In the West Bank town of Nablus on Wednesday, a member of the armed wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement was killed in an undercover operation by the Israeli military. The man was being sought after recently escaping from prison.

Special correspondents Samuel Sockol in Jerusalem and Islam Abdulkarim in Gaza City contributed to this report.