Sources: Gaza death toll from Israeli offensive exceeds 375

With Tuesday's attacks on key Hamas structures and an incident at sea, Israel's defense minister said it is waging an "all-out war" on Gaza as fighting entered its fourth day.


The airstrikes, which Israel says are aimed at stopping the firing of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel, have killed more than 375 Palestinians, most of them Hamas militants, Palestinian medical sources said Tuesday.

Israel bombed a Hamas government compound early Tuesday, leveling at least three structures, including the foreign ministry building, eyewitnesses and Hamas security sources told CNN.

A Gaza-based journalist, whose name was withheld for security reasons, told CNN he heard 18 blasts in the area and that two fires were burning at the compound early Tuesday.

More bombs continued to drop over Gaza through the morning.

In the Mediterranean Sea, an Israeli patrol boat struck a boat carrying medical volunteers and supplies to Gaza early Tuesday as it attempted to intercept the vessel, witnesses and Israeli officials said.

CNN correspondent Karl Penhaul was aboard the 60-foot, Gibraltar-registered Dignity when the contact occurred. In a radio message, the Israelis accused the vessel of being involved in terrorist activity, its captain said. Watch CNN correspondent describe the incident »

The Dignity was carrying 16 passengers and crew who were trying to reach Gaza through an Israeli blockade of the territory. It was "very severely rammed" by an Israeli patrol boat that had been pursuing the volunteer boat for about half an hour before the collision, and the crew said their vessel was struck intentionally, Penhaul said.

But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor called allegations that the vessel was rammed deliberately "absurd." He said the volunteer boat was trying to outmaneuver the Israeli vessel when it was struck. Watch CNN's Nic Robertson on the latest developments »

"This is why the collision occurred," Palmor said. "There is no intention on the part of the Israeli navy to ram anybody."

The bows of the two vessels struck each other. He said the Dignity was not "weaving about" and continued on its course as at least two Israeli vessels maneuvered around it.