UPDATED: at least 200 dead, over 400 injured.... Israel launches air strikes on Gaza; military officials said more than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on Gaza by mid-afternoon
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Smoke rises from Israeli missile strikes in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from the Israeli community of Netiv Hasara, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008. Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza on Saturday in an unprecedented series of simultaneous strikes. Hamas and medics reported that dozens of people were killed and that others were still buried under the rubble. Health Ministry official Moawiya Hassanain said at least 120 people were killed.
Palestinians lift a wounded woman to a vehicle after Israeli air force attacked Gaza City December 27, 2008. Israel's air force fired about 30 missiles at targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, destroying several Hamas police compounds and killing at least 40 people, a Hamas police spokesman and witnesses said.
Update: Article Posted 9:57 am
Israel demolishes Hamas compounds, over 200 dead
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes Saturday, killing more than 200 people and wounding nearly 400 in the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.
Most of those killed were security men, but an unknown number of civilians were also among the dead. Hamas said all of its security installations were hit, threatened to resume suicide attacks, and sent at least 70 rockets and mortar shells crashing into Israeli border communities, according to the Israeli military. One Israeli was killed and at least six people were hurt.
With so many wounded, the Palestinian death toll was likely to rise.
The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion in Gaza, as black clouds of smoke rose above the territory, ruled by Hamas for the past 18 months. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.
"My son is gone, my son is gone," wailed Said Masri, a 57-year-old shopkeeper, as he sat in the middle of a Gaza City street, slapping his face and covering his head with dust from a bombed-out security compound nearby.
He said he had sent his 9-year-old son out to purchase cigarettes minutes before the airstrikes began and now could not find him. "May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn," Masri moaned.
The offensive began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have fired some 300 rockets and mortars at Israeli targets over the past week, and in recent days, Israeli leaders had threatened to launch a major offensive.
"There is a time for calm and there is a time for fighting, and now is the time for fighting," said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, vowing to expand the operation if necessary.
Asked whether Hamas political leaders might be targeted, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declared at a news conference: "Hamas is a terrorist organization and nobody is immune."
The first round of airstrikes on Gaza came just before noon. More than 100 attacks took place, continuing well into the evening.
Hospitals crowded with people, civilians rushing in wounded people in cars, vans and ambulances. "There are heads without bodies .... There's blood in the corridors. People are weeping, women are crying, doctors are shouting, " said nurse Ahmed Abdel Salaam from Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main treatment center.
The offensive sparked angry protests throughout the Arab world, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Vatican, the U.N. secretary-general and special Mideast envoy Tony Blair all called for an immediate restoration of calm. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the situation.
In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza."
In Gaza City's main security compound, bodies of more than a dozen uniformed Hamas police lay on the ground. One survivor raised his index finger in a show of Muslim faith, uttering a prayer. The Gaza police chief was among those killed. One man, his face bloodied, sat dazed on the ground as a fire raged nearby.
By early evening, 205 Gazans were known to be dead and 388 wounded, Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said. He did not provide figures on civilian deaths. But earlier in the day, police said about 140 Hamas security forces were killed. Some of the dead, rolled in blankets, were laid out on the floor of Gaza's main hospital for identification.
Israeli military officials said more than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on Gaza by mid-afternoon. They spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines.
Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge. Hamas "will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
Israel told its civilians near Gaza to take cover, and in the West Bank, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a bitter rivalry with Hamas, condemned Israel. Egypt summoned the Israeli ambassador to express condemnation and opened its border with Gaza to allow ambulances to drive out some of the wounded.
Despite the overwhelming show of force, it was not clear whether it would halt the rocket fire. Past operations have failed to stop the attacks.
One rocket struck the Israeli town of Netivot, killing an Israeli man and wounding four people, rescue services said.
Dozens of stunned residents, some of them weeping, gathered around the house that took the deadly rocket hit. A hole gaped in one of the walls, which was pocked with shrapnel marks. The crowd broke up after an alert siren went off and everyone went running.
Streets were nearly empty in Sderot, the Israeli border town that has been pummeled hardest by rockets. A few cars carried panicked residents leaving town. Dozens of people congregated on a hilltop to watch the Israeli aerial attacks.
Protests against the campaign erupted in Arab Israeli villages, the Abbas-ruled West Bank and across the Arab world.
The most violent West Bank response came in the city of Hebron, where dozens of youths, many of them masked, hurled rocks for hours at Israeli forces, who lobbed tear gas and stun grenades in response. Officials in Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace, turned off Christmas lights and traders shuttered shops to protest the Israeli attack.
Anti-Israel protests also erupted in Amman, Jordan, and in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria.
Israel has targeted Gaza in the past, but the number of simultaneous attacks was unprecedented.
Israel left Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, but the withdrawal did not lead to better relations with Palestinians in the territory as Israeli officials had hoped.
Instead, the evacuation was followed by a sharp rise in militant attacks on Israeli border communities that on several occasions provoked harsh Israeli military reprisals.
Article:
Article posted 5:26 am
Israel launches air strikes on Gaza, 145 dead
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said "the operation will last as long as necessary," but it was not clear if it would include a ground offensive
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli warplanes destroyed dozens of security compounds across Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday in unprecedented waves of air strikes, killing at least 145 people and wounding more than 310 in the single deadliest day in Gaza fighting in recent memory, Palestinian medical officials said.
The strikes came in response to renewed rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli border towns. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said "the operation will last as long as necessary" but it was not clear if it would include a ground offensive.
Asked if Hamas political leaders might be targeted next, military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovitch said "Any Hamas target is a target."
Gaza militants fired several Grad-type Katyusha rockets at southern Israel in response to the strikes, the military said. One hit in the border community of Netivot, killing a woman and wounding four people, Israel's rescue service reported.
The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion as black clouds of smoke rose above Gaza. Some of the missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.
In Gaza City's main security compound, the bodies of more than a dozen uniformed security officers lay on the ground. One survivor raised his index finger in a show of Muslim faith, uttering a prayer. The Gaza police chief was among those killed.
It wasn't immediately clear how many civilian casualties there were.
Said Masri sat in the middle of a Gaza City street, close to a security compound, alternately slapping his face and covering his head with dust from the bombed-out building. "My son is gone, my son is gone," wailed Masri, 57.
The shopkeeper said he sent his son out to purchase cigarettes minutes before the airstrikes began and now could not find him. "May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn," Masri moaned.
Hamas leaders threatened revenge attacks and Israel told its civilians near Gaza to take cover as militants began retaliating with rockets. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has governed from the West Bank since Hamas seized control of Gaza last year, called for restraint and Egypt opened its border with Gaza to allow ambulances to drive out some of the wounded.
Hamas officials said all of Gaza's security compounds were destroyed. Israel Army Radio said at least 40 targets were hit.
Barak said the coming period "won't be easy and won't be short for the communities in the south" of Israel.
Israel declared a state of emergency in Israeli communities within a 12-mile range of Gaza, putting the area on a war footing.
Hamas said it would take revenge not just with rocket attacks but by sending suicide bombers into Israel. "Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," said spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, speaking on a Gaza radio station.
The first round of air strikes came just before noon, and several more waves followed.
Civilians rushed to the targeted areas, trying to move the wounded in their cars to hospitals.
Television footage showed Gaza City hospitals crowded with people, including civilians rushing in wounded people in cars, vans and ambulances.
"We are treating people on the floor, in the corridors. We have no more space. We don't know who is here and what the priority is to treat," said one doctor who hung up the phone before identifying himself at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main treatment center.
Moawiya Hassanain, a Gaza Health Ministry official, said at least 145 people were killed and more than 310 wounded.
Frantic civilians drove wounded people to hospitals in their cars.
In the West Bank, Hamas' rival Abbas condemned "this aggression" and called for restraint, according to an aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh. Abbas, who has ruled only the West Bank since Islamic Hamas militants seized power in Gaza in June 2007, was in contact with Arab leaders and his West Bank Cabinet convened an emergency session.
Israel has targeted Gaza in the past but the number of simultaneous attacks was unprecedented.
Israel left Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation but the withdrawal did not lead to better relations with Palestinians in the territory as Israeli officials had hoped. Instead, the evacuation was followed by a sharp rise in militant attacks on Israeli border communities that on several occasions provoked harsh Israeli military reprisals.
The last, in late February and early March of this year, spurred both sides to agree to a truce that was to have lasted six months but began unraveling in early November.
With 200 mortars and rockets raining down on Israel since the truce expired a week ago, and 3,000 since the beginning of the year, pressure had been mounting in Israel for the military to crush militants.
Israeli leaders have been voicing strong threats in recent days and consider Hamas to be primarily responsible for the situation.
Article: HERE
Smoke rises from Israeli missile strikes in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from the Israeli community of Netiv Hasara, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008. Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza on Saturday in an unprecedented series of simultaneous strikes. Hamas and medics reported that dozens of people were killed and that others were still buried under the rubble. Health Ministry official Moawiya Hassanain said at least 120 people were killed.
(AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
An Israeli helicopter fires at targets in the northern Gaza Strip during a military operation in May 2008. Hamas radio has reported that at least 120 people were killed across the Gaza Strip as a result of massive Israeli air strikes. Hamas said 70 were killed inside Gaza City and the rest elsewhere across the enclave.
(AFP/File/Jack Guez)
A Palestinian girl walks with her father during an anti-Israel rally in Bureij refugee camp in the Southern Gaza Strip December 26, 2008.
(Suhaib Salem/Reuters)
Smoke billows from the Gaza Strip following Israeli air strikes on the southern town of Rafah. Israel has launched a massive wave of air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 140 Palestinians after warning of a fiery riposte to ongoing rocket fire.
(AFP/Said Khatib)
In this image taken from APTN video, Palestinian men carry two injured children into hospital after Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza in Gaza City on Saturday Dec. 27, 2008. Hamas and medics reported that dozens of people were killed and that others were still buried under the rubble. The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion, as black clouds of smoke rose above Gaza.
(AP Photo/APTN)
In this image taken from APTN video young men carry a badly injured man on a stretcher to an awaiting vehicle after Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza in Gaza City on Saturday Dec. 27, 2008. Hamas and medics reported that dozens of people were killed and that others were still buried under the rubble. The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion, as black clouds of smoke rose above Gaza.
(AP Photo/APTN)
Israel has launched a massive wave of air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 140 Palestinians after warning of a fiery riposte to ongoing rocket fire.
(AFP Graphic/Francis Nallier)
Palestinian militants prepare to launch a mortar round from Gaza City in February 2008. Israel has launched a massive wave of air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 140 Palestinians after warning of a fiery riposte to ongoing rocket fire.
(AFP/File/Mohammed Abed)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli air strike in Rafah, a town in the southern Gaza Strip. Israel has launched a massive wave of air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 140 Palestinians after warning of a fiery riposte to ongoing rocket fire.
(AFP/Said Khatib)
In this image taken from APTN video men stand outside a destroyed police station after Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza in Gaza City on Saturday Dec. 27, 2008. Hamas and medics reported that dozens of people were killed and that others were still buried under the rubble. The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion, as black clouds of smoke rose above Gaza.
(AP Photo/APTN)
Palestinians carry the body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli missile strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008. Israeli warplanes demolished dozens of Hamas security compounds across Gaza on Saturday in unprecedented waves of simultaneous air strikes. Gaza medics said more than 120 people were killed and more than 250 wounded.
(AP Photo/Hatem Omar)
Bodies of Palestinians are seen at Shifa hospital in Gaza December 27, 2008. Israel's air force fired about 30 missiles at targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, destroying several Hamas police compounds and killing more than 140 people, medical officials and witnesses said.
REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA)
Palestinians gather at the site of a security compound used by the Islamic group Hamas following an Israeli missile strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008. Israeli warplanes demolished dozens of Hamas security compounds across Gaza on Saturday in unprecedented waves of simultaneous air strikes. Gaza medics said more than 120 people were killed and more than 250 wounded.
(AP Photo/Hatem Omar)
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