JERUSALEM, Jan 22 (Reuters) - An Israeli woman told Israeli television on Thursday she was trying to bring three of her children out of Gaza after her Palestinian husband was killed during this month's assault on the coastal enclave.

The widow identified as Galit Popock said she spoke to her husband in the heavily bombarded Beit Lahiya zone of northern Gaza days before he died during the 22-day assault while going to bring food for their three daughters.

"He asked me to promise him to look after the children. And I told him that if, God forbid, he dies I'll do everything to get the daughters out of Gaza," Popock, in tears, said on Israel's Channel 2 television.

Popock said she had lived for a time in Gaza with her husband, whom she did not identify, and that three daughters, stayed with him in Gaza when she returned to Israel two years ago, with their three other children.

She did not explain whether they had formally separated, but said he had applied unsuccessfully for an Israeli residence permit. Israel, having stiffened laws against Palestinian immigration after a 2000 uprising, denied the application.

Popock said she has tried to bring her children to Israel in the past, but her husband said he was afraid to let them leave Israeli-blockaded Gaza unless he could accompany them.

The widow said that since her husband's death, her father-in-law, who had notified her of the tragedy, had voiced objections to sending the girls to Israel at this time.

It wasn't clear whether this was the only obstacle to reuniting the girls with their mother, as Israel denies permits to most Palestinians seeking entry from Gaza, citing security concerns.

Popock's case was rare, as few Jewish Israelis marry Palestinians, as the two groups seldom mix. She said they had met at a wedding in Israel nine years ago, at a time when some Palestinians from Gaza could work in the Jewish state.

Some Israeli Arab citizens, most of whom are Palestinians whose families remained in Israel when the Jewish state was founded in 1948, marry Palestinians from Gaza, or the occupied West Bank.

Israel launched a military assault in the Gaza Strip on Dec. 27, saying it wanted to stamp out cross-border rocket attacks. More than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the violence. (Writing by Joseph Nasr and Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Editing by Matthew Jone)

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