From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip. Is there an end in sight?

I'm Sarah Terry sitting in for Warren Olney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

For three days, Israeli jets have fired on Gaza, leaving some 300 people dead.

Israel wants the Islamic Palestinian group Hamas to stop firing rockets into southern Israel.

But does it have wider political goals?

Tens of thousands of people have protested in the streets of Arab capitals,

but how are Arab governments responding?

In the U.S., will the attacks force the middies to the top of a new administration's agenda?

On reporter's notebook, the year of Obama, a reporter looks back. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation, the John D. and

Catherine T. McArthur Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life.

Information at gatesfoundation.org.

I'm Sarah Terry, sitting in foreign Warren Alney, back with To the Point from PRI.

As Israeli jets continue to fire on the densely populated Gaza Strip, we'll look at the impact

in Gaza, in the region, and around the world. What is Israel trying to accomplish? What pressures

do the attacks place on Arab leaders and on the U.S.? Will Israel's actions fuel Islamic

militancy around the world? On reporter's notebook, 12 months that changed the world, one political reporter takes stock of what she got right and what she got wrong in a year that saw the first African American reach the White House.

First, this news update.

Israeli airstrikes for three straight days on the Gaza Strip have left some 300 people dead and more than 600 wounded.

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