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For a fifth straight day Israel continued to relentlessly bomb the besieged Gaza Strip, destroying homes and killing civilians. The Israeli government rejected calls for a ceasefire saying it would give the Hamas party time to regroup. The stated goal of the military strikes is to end the random rocket fire by Hamas into Israeli towns over the last several years. The strikes have killed almost 400 people in Gaza, many of them children. The United Nations and many countries around the world, including the European Union, France, Japan, Russia, and the US have urged Israel to stop its bombing for 48 hours to let in humanitarian supplies. The strikes come as the near complete months-long Israeli blockade of Gaza were reaching a tipping point. Most Gazans were already living without electricity, food, or medical supplies. Meanwhile, a sail boat called The Dignity, was hit by Israeli patrol boats yesterday off the coast of Gaza, causing severe damage. The boat was carrying human rights activists with the Free Gaza Movement, as well as members of the media, and former US Congresswoman and former Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney.

GUEST: Ramzi Kisya, Arab-American writer and activist, and one of the organizers for the Free Gaza Movement. For more information, visit www.freegaza.org.