Israel infantry soldiers gather on the border just before leaving Israel for the northern Gaza... 
(AP)
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"We keep hearing the sounds of airplanes and we don't know if we'll live until tomorrow or not," she said.
Severe damage to Gaza's phone network was pushing the territory closer to complete isolation. The Palestinian phone company Paltel Group said 90 percent of Gaza's cellular service was down, as well as many landlines, because of frequent power cuts and the inability of technicians to reach work sites.
In his first public comments on the operation, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet Sunday that Israel could not allow its civilians to continue to be targeted by rockets from Gaza.
"This operation was unavoidable," he said.
Military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Cabinet Hamas was using mosques, public institutions and private houses as ammunition stores, Cabinet secretary Oved Yehezkel told reporters.
Israel approved the mobilization of thousands more reservists in addition to tens of thousands called up on Saturday. Defense officials said the extra forces could enable a far broader ground offensive.
The troops could also be used in the event Palestinian militants in the West Bank or Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon launch attacks, as Hezbollah did in 2006 when Israel was in the midst of a large operation in Gaza.
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Jason Keyser reported from Jerusalem.
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