MIDDLE EAST: Hamas and Fatah react to Israeli strike on Gaza, which killed 140 Palestinians

Record ID: 339042

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Hamas and Fatah react to Israeli strike on Gaza, which killed 140 Palestinians
  • Date: 27th December 2008
  • Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (DECEMBER 27, 2008) (REUTERS) 1, VIEW OF ROCKET BEING FIRED FROM THE GAZA STRIP TOWARDS ISRAEL VIEW OF HAMAS SPOKESPERSON FAWZI BARHOUM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMAS SPOKESPERSON, FAWZI BARHOUM, SAYING: "Today is a holocaust and a massacre day, that Livni had internationally and regionally campaigned for so she can commit to this Holocaust and this massacre.
  • Embargoed: 11th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2LQJTITZMR97MYTUL5C937DDC
  • Story Text: Israeli war planes and combat helicopters pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 140 people in the bloodiest day for Palestinians in more than 20 years, medics said.
    An Israeli army spokesman said the air force had conducted "a massive operation" against "terrorist infrastructure" following the collapse of a six-month-old, Egyptian-brokered ceasefire last week.
    Gaza militants have fired dozens of makeshift rockets at southern Israel in recent days, piling pressure on the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to take military action in response. The rockets cause damage but few injuries.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned as "criminal"
    the Israeli air campaign and called for the international community to intervene.
    But an aide to Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel was prepared to step up its assault "as required".
    Television footage showed dead bodies scattered on a road and wounded and dead being carried away by distraught rescuers. There was widespread damage to buildings.
    Hospital officials in Gaza City said more than 120 people were killed there, including 40 at a police headquarters where Hamas was hosting a graduation ceremony for new recruits. Among those killed was police chief Tawfiq Jabber.
    Uniformed bodies lay in a pile and the wounded writhed in pain, Reuters television pictures showed. Rescuers carried those showing signs of life to cars and ambulances, while others tried to revive the unconscious.
    Several the rescuers beat their heads and shouted: "Allahu akbar (God is greatest)." One badly wounded prostrate man was quietly reciting verses from the Koran.
    Another 23 Palestinians were killed in air strikes in Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, medical officials said. At one site, there was a huge crater in the ground.
    The Palestinian death-toll was the highest since a five-day offensive in March that killed more than 120 people.
    Saturday's death-toll, which stood at over 140, marked the highest for Palestinians since their 1980s uprising.
    Witnesses said the attacks were carried out by warplanes and combat helicopters.
    Witnesses also reported seeing Israeli planes bombing sites along Gaza's border with Egypt. Palestinians use hundreds of tunnels under the border to bring in everything from goods to weapons, making them prime Israeli targets.
    The air strikes followed a decision by Olmert's security cabinet to widen reprisals for cross-border Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. Olmert had warned Hamas, which seized control of the coastal enclave in June 2007, to stop firing rockets or pay a heavy price.

    "I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to strike Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad," he told Al Arabiya television, an Arab broadcaster widely watched in Gaza.
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