An Israeli boy walks into a bomb shelter in the southern city of Ashkelon January 4, 2009. Israeli troops and tanks split the Gaza Strip and ringed its main city on Sunday in an offensive against Hamas that has killed 500 Palestinians, including a growing number of civilians. Hamas kept up rocket attacks against southern Israel, defying efforts by the Middle East’s most powerful army to achieve Israeli leaders’ declared aim of removing the threat of cross-border salvoes. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL)…read more