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ISRAEL’S ‘WAR TO THE BITTER END’

Israel yesterday flattened Hamas bomb factories, blew up its leaders’ homes and declared an “all-out war” that won’t end until the terrorist chieftains are driven from power in the Gaza Strip – even as the militants fired a deadly barrage of lethal missiles deeper than ever into Israel yesterday.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel is in a “war to the bitter end.”

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Four Israelis, including three civilians, were killed and eight wounded. Palestinian health officials put the three-day death toll in Gaza at 364.

Intensified rocket strikes by Hamas – like the ones that triggered the Israeli offensive in the first place – have revealed the expanding range of missiles that are making larger cities deeper inside Israel vulnerable.

In a Hamas barrage last night, a missile crashed into a bus stop in Ashdod, 23 miles from the Gaza Strip. A woman died and two others were wounded, one seriously, the first casualties in the city of 190,000 residents.

The military said an Israeli soldier was killed later in a mortar strike, the first to die in the conflict. Five others were wounded, one seriously.

In all, five Israelis have been killed since the Gaza offensive began Saturday, bringing to 19 the number killed in rocket attacks from Gaza this year.

Early today, Hamas released a statement saying its squads had fired 43 homemade rockets, 17 longer-range Grads and six mortar shells at Israel. Other militant groups also fired rockets at Israel.

Barak, noting that it was the Hamas missile strikes that sparked Israel’s retaliation, cited the US president-elect.

“[Barack] Obama said if rockets were being fired at his home while his two daughters were sleeping, he would do everything he could to [prevent] it,” Barak said, referring to Obama’s date’s remarks during a visit to a frequently attacked Israeli city in July.

Israel’s airstrikes on more than 325 sites since midday Saturday have reduced dozens of buildings to rubble, overwhelmed hospitals, and filled Gaza’s streets with smoke and fire. The military said Israeli naval vessels had also bombarded targets from the sea.

There was no sign of a letup in the furious offensive:

* Early today, Israeli aircraft dropped at least 16 bombs on five Hamas government buildings in a Gaza City complex, destroying them, setting fires and sending debris flying for hundreds of yards. Rescue workers said 40 people were injured.

* Airstrikes also blew up two bomb and chemistry labs at Gaza City’s Islamic University.

* Attacks killed a senior commander of the terrorist Islamic Jihad group and destroyed the homes of two top Hamas officials.

“After this operation, there will not be a single Hamas building left standing,” said Israel’s deputy chief of staff, Dan Harel. “And we plan to change the rules of the game.”

Israeli officials made clear for the first time that nothing short of regime change was acceptable.

“The goal of the operation is to topple Hamas,” said Haim Ramon, deputy to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. “We are favorable to any other government to take the place of Hamas.”

No time frame was given for reaching that goal, but a spokesman for Barak said the military operation could “take many days.”

The war was triggered after Hamas announced it would no longer respect a six-month truce and its members launched more than 100 rocket attacks on Israel.

Hopes for a new truce rose when the president of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference said Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told him he was ready to sign a cease-fire.

But a Meshaal aide repudiated the comments and said there can be no talk of a truce until the assault ends and Israel reopens the Gaza crossings.

“We need our liberty, we need our freedom, and we need to be independent,” Abu Marzouk said.

With Times of London and Post Wire Services

andy.soltis@nypost.com