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190 killed in Israeli air assault

Atul Aneja

— Photo: AP

CARNAGE IN GAZA: Palestinians remove a body from the rubble of a building after an Israeli air strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.

DUBAI: Israel launched a massive offensive on Gaza on Saturday targeting the Palestinian group Hamas, using scores of F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters. Over 190 persons were killed and 300 injured during a wave of airstrikes on the coastal strip during the day.

Israeli daily Haaretz said 60 war planes were used to hit 50 targets in the first wave of strikes. Over 100 bombs rained on the Palestinian locations, with 95 per cent of the ordnance finding its target. Israeli military spokesman Ai Benayahu told army radio that there would be no let-up in the operation.

“This is only just the beginning of an operation launched after a Cabinet decision. We have not fixed a timeline and we will act according to the situation on the ground,” he said.

The attacks took place after the expiry of a six-month ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in an encounter on Tuesday, triggering a rocket barrage from Gaza into Israel a day later.

Gaza police spokesman Islam Shahwan told Hamas radio that the planes attacked a police compound where a graduation ceremony for new personnel was taking place. Television footage showed scenes of carnage with more than a dozen black-clad security men, lying on the ground at a single location following the strike.

Hamas radio said the attack on the police headquarters killed the police chief Tawfiq Jabber. The refugee camp in Khan Younis was also hit, killing at least two persons.

Many of Hamas’ security compounds are located close to densely populated civilian areas. Panic spread across Gaza city where sirens wailed and plumes of black smoke rose from locations that had been bombed.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas’ Damascus-based political bureau, said the resistance would retaliate. “We will defend our women and children by any means necessary. All the options are open.”

There has been a wave of protests to Gaza’s aerial bombardment in Beirut, Amman and in the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon.

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