A HIGH-RISE building in Gaza Strip is hit by Israeli bombs (Wikipedia/WAFA).

Israeli warplanes continue to bomb the Gaza Strip, flattening whole city blocks in some cases, as the counterattack against Hamas continues.

According to United Press International, the blockade of food, medicine and electricity to Hamas-controlled areas of Palestine have led to a call from Hamas for world relief organizations to step in and bring aid.

Isreal has offered to end the cutoff provided that all people – an estimated 150 Israelis and Americans and people of other nations – held as hostages be set free.

The U.S. federal government announced that it will provide charter air flights to Israel to evacuate Americans seeking to leave. Many commercial fights have cancelled passenger air service in and out of the area.

Scalise gives up his Speaker bid

After a day of trying to rally support for being elected Speaker of the House, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise withdrew his candidacy for the post.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-Louisiana).

The New York Times is reporting that although he has a majority of  Republicans, it was nowhere near a majority of the House of Representatives given the almost evenly-divided nature of the lower house of Congress.

No Democrats are likely to help end the deadlock with the GOP.

“Our conference still has to come together, and it’s not there,” said Scalise. “There are still some people who have their own agendas.”

N. Korea threatens nukes … again

Reacting to the arrival of an American aircraft group in the South Korean port of Busan, the North Korean government raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons.

According to the Associated Press, the USS Ronald Reagan and escorts will be in port for five days as part of an exercise.

North Korean called it “an undisguised military provocation” and threatened  to use atomic weapons to defend itself. The communist government of the Democratic Republic of Korea has made similar threats before.

Most observers think such actio is unlikely because the response from the much stronger American forces could devastate North Korea and unseat that government.

Weather: Sunny days on the way

Partly cloudy conditions will persist in our West Orange County area for a few day, followed by a couple of sunny days. The forecast calls for a daytime high of 80 on Friday with an overnight low of 58, then an 88 (58) on Friday. Saturday should be sunny with 88 (61) and Monday at 85 (61).