GAZA CITY, Dec 27, (AFP) - Israel hammered Hamas targets in Gaza today, killing at least 205 people in retaliation for ongoing rocket fire in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said “Operation Cast Lead,” which has also left some 300 wounded, would continue “as long as necessary.”
“The battle will be long and difficult, but the time has come to act and to fight,” he said.
Following the mid-morning wave of attacks, which saw some 60 aircraft bomb the impoverished, overcrowded territory, Hamas swiftly responded by firing several dozen rockets into the Jewish state, killing one Israeli.
The Islamist movement, which seized control of Gaza from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas last year, warned Israelis living near Gaza to “prepare the funeral shrouds.”
Air strikes continued sporadically throughout the day and into the evening, with no immediate reports of casualties.
The Palestinian leadership slammed the “massacre,” and the European Union, Russia, Britain and France urged both sides to stop fighting. |
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