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BEIT HANOUN, Gaza, July 11 (Reuters) Beit Hanoun's veteran bridge builder shrugged off his latest misfortune: the Israelis destroyed the main span into town three years ago. The European Union rebuilt it. And overnight the Israelis destroyed it again.

''I'm sad but what can I do,'' said Wagih Elbity, the city's 59-year-old civil engineer, after an air strike jolted him out of bed today morning and turned another of his beloved concrete bridges into a steaming mound of rubble and sewage.

Elbity said Beit Hanoun, a northern Gaza town of 20,000, would appeal again to the EU for funds to rebuild. But with the Hamas-led Palestinian government facing a Western aid boycott, he said: ''This time, they cannot give us any money.'' Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip to free an abducted soldier and halt rocket attacks has killed more than 50 Palestinians, most of them militants.

The air and ground offensive has also devastated Gaza's infrastructure, compounding Palestinian hardships and upsetting international donors who have poured millions of dollars into rebuilding it after earlier Israeli offensives.

Western diplomats said it was unclear when and if any of the projects could be rebuilt. The United States, the European Union and other donors have vowed to withhold funds until Hamas recognises Israel and renounces violence.

''It's complicated by the fact that we cannot even talk to the Hamas ministers,'' said Nils Eliasson, Sweden's consul-general in Jerusalem.

Swedish, British and other envoys have stepped up pressure on Israel in recent days. Even the United States, Israel's staunchest ally, is complaining about strikes against bridges and power stations, some built with US taxpayer money.

But Israel says the bombings are part of efforts to prevent militants, who seized Corporal Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid on June 25, from moving him from one place to another.

PROJECTS DESTROYED Since the bombing began on June 28, two of the largest donors to the Palestinians -- the European Union and Japan -- have seen several large projects destroyed or damaged.

The Japanese government just launched a 19 million dollar programme to rehabilitate and widen Gaza's Salahudeen Road, badly damaged by previous Israeli raids, when the Israelis bombed it again.

Not even Washington has been spared. Gaza's main power plant, bombed on the first night of the offensive, was insured for up to 48 million dollar by an arm of the US government.

''This is frustrating,'' said Eliasson of Sweden, whose government provided two of the six electric transformers that were destroyed on June 28 at a cost of $1 million each.

''We are very concerned that installations we financed for the well-being of the people of Gaza are being wasted,'' he said.

Former Palestinian public works minister, Abdel-Rahman Hamad, said international reconstruction projects will have to be put on hold until Israel agrees not to strike them in future.

''How do you convince donors to fund a bridge when the Israelis are going to just destroy it again?'' asked Hamad as he peered through the gaping holes blasted in the Beit Hanoun bridge. ''It is a waste of time and money.'' With more than 300,000 dollar in EU funding, the four-lane bridge was just two years old when it was bombed on Saturday.

But one lane survived. Early today morning, Israel finished the job with two missiles, witnesses said.

Now only one bridge remains standing in Beit Hanoun. ''After two or three nights, maybe Israel will destroy this bridge too,'' Elbity said.

REUTERS SY HS2018