GAZA, Israel (REUTERS) — Israeli warplanes bombed the Palestinian Authority’s main police headquarters on Friday, wounding at least 18 people in fresh retaliation for suicide attacks in the Jewish state.
The air strike in Gaza City, hub of the Gaza Strip, reduced two four-story buildings to rubble, officials and witnesses said. Two huge explosions sent a large plume of smoke billowing over the area.
The impact of the blasts shook people out of their beds and shattered windows hundreds of yards from the scene.
Ambulances rushed the injured to hospitals, but no one was seriously hurt, medical officials said. They said paramedics were still at the scene searching for other possible casualties.
The raid marked the end of a two-day pause in Israel’s air campaign against Palestinian security targets in response to Palestinian suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Haifa that killed 25 people last weekend.
The Israeli army said in a statement that Friday’s strikes by F-16 warplanes were aimed against “Palestinian Authority bodies that support and aid terrorist activity.”
In Gaza, Palestinian public security chief, Major Gen. Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh, said: “The Israeli attack has destroyed our entire effort to restore calm. . . . It will only lead to an escalation of tension.”
ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING, BARRACKS DESTROYED
The target was the main police headquarters for Palestinian-ruled areas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, housing the offices of the Palestinian Authority’s police chief.
Majaydeh said the security compound was hit by bombs dropped by the Israeli warplanes. Witnesses had initially reported that the planes fired missiles.
The explosions destroyed administrative offices and a police barracks, a Palestinian police spokesman said. Most security officers have stayed away from their installations in recent months for fear of Israeli air attacks.
The raid followed attacks by warplanes on Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday and Tuesday in Israel’s fiercest air campaign in 14 months of conflict.
Israeli officials had warned of further military action unless Palestinian President Yasser Arafat cracked down hard on militant groups that have carried out a wave of attacks inside Israel.
The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for last weekend’s suicide attacks, saying it was to avenge Israel’s killing of one of its military leaders.
But Israel blamed Arafat, saying he and his security forces allowed militants to operate with impunity.
Israel launched Friday’s raid just hours after U.S envoy Anthony Zinni met Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah as part of a new peace mission.
After the meeting, Arafat announced that Palestinian and Israeli officials planned to re-launch U.S.-brokered security talks on Friday.
