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155 Slain in Israel Gaza Strikes

IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
Score of Gaza civilians were killed and wounded in the strikes.

Score of Gaza civilians were killed and wounded in the strikes. (Reuters)
GAZA STRIP — Israeli warplanes mounted on Saturday, December 27, a series of strikes against scores of targets in the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 155 people and wounding hundreds others.

Television footage showed dead bodies scattered on the ground and wounded and dead being carried away by distraught rescuers.

Thick black smoke billowed over Gaza city, where the port and security buildings were badly damaged.

Uniformed bodies lay in a pile and the wounded writhed in pain.

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Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan said a police compound in Gaza City had been hosting a graduation ceremony for new personnel when bombed.

Police chief Tawfiq Jabber was among the dead.

Rescuers carried those showing signs of life to cars and ambulances, while others tried to revive the unconscious.

One badly wounded man quietly recited verses from the Qur`an.

Witnesses said the attacks were carried out by warplanes and gunship helicopters.

The Israeli military confirmed the strikes and threatened this was just the beginning of a bigger onslaught.

Tension between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza has been running high since the expiry of six-month truce a week ago.

Israeli leaders have vowed to launched a massive offensive to end Hamas rule in Gaza, sealed off by Israel since last June.

Holocaust

In their first reaction, Palestinian groups denounced the Israeli aggression and vowed to avenge the slain Palestinians.

"This is the holocaust which Israel Foreign Minister Tizipi Livni has marketed to the international community this week," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Brahoum told Aljazeera TV channel.

He said score of Palestinian civilians were killed by Israel.

"This is a massacre committed against all the Palestinian people not Hamas alone."

The Hamas official also accused the international community of complicity in the Israeli aggression.

"Such an offensive would not have been mounted without the deafening Arab silence, US backing and European complicity."

Brahoum insisted that the Israeli onslaught would not break the people of Gaza or Hamas.

"This will neither weaken Hamas nor topple its government."

Hamas vowed to avenge the dead.

"All options are on the table to response to the Israeli aggression."

Hamas later confirmed firing rockets into Israel in retaliation, killing one Israeli in the southern town of Netivot.