Astronaut captures air strikes over Gaza in picture from space

Gaza has been rocked by regular bouts of violence since Israel unilaterally pulled out of the territory in 2005. As the Islamist movement’s war with Israel raged into a 17th day, the death toll reached 729 with Israeli tank fire and pre-dawn assaults killing 35 people in the Hamas-dominated coastal enclave, including an 18-month-old baby and six members of the same family, Palestinian officials said.

Officials say at least 475 houses have been destroyed by Israeli fire and 2,644 damaged. Some 46 schools, 56 mosques and seven hospitals have also suffered varying degrees of damage.

Thirty-two Israelis have been killed since the operation against Hamas begun, all but two of them soldiers.