Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations         

    by Deng Yushan

    JERUSALEM, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israel vowed on Saturday, following massive airstrikes in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, that it is poised for more offensives in the Palestinian enclave till bringing the southern borderland back to quiet and security.

    Over 200 people were killed  and another several hundreds wounded in the simultaneous raids around noon against dozens of Hamas' security installations, marking the bloodiest day in decades on this volatile piece of land.

Two Palestinian Hamas policemen help evacuate a wounded colleague as a second one waves for help following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Dec. 27, 2008.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    During the massive operation, which Israel said was launched in response to the ongoing cross-border rocket attacks, the Israeli army executed two waves of attacks, with some 80 warplanes and helicopters involved and over 100 bombs dropped, reported local news service Ynet.

    Later in the day, Palestinian sources said that Israeli aircraft carried out more bombardments in the coastal area, during one of which three more were killed in the evening.

    "We are not happy about the clashes, but we are not afraid either. There is a time for calm and a time for battle; now is the time for battle," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told a press conference after the midday assaults.

    The offensive has three objectives: giving Hamas a forceful blow, fundamentally changing the situation in Gaza, and ending the rocket attacks against Israeli citizens, said the former premier.

Bodies of Palestinian Hamas policemen are scattered on the ground following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Dec. 27, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "The operation will be deepened and expanded as much as necessary. I don't want to delude anyone. It won't be easy or short, but we have to be determined," said Barak. "We must do everything to restore calm."

    In the evening, the Israeli army reportedly began building up troops and tanks along the Gaza border, apparently in preparations for a possible ground incursion in case that the airborne attacks failed to accomplish desirable results.

    The deadly strikes came less than two months after Israel and Gaza militant groups resumed clashes following five relatively quiet months, during which both sides generally observed an Egypt-brokered truce deal.

    Gazan militants have since pummeled southern Israel on a nearly daily basis. Israeli defense establishment said that during the past two weeks, some 300 rockets and mortar shells were fired into Israel, causing several casualties and generating widespread panic.

Bodies of Palestinian Hamas policemen are scattered on the ground following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Dec. 27, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    In response, Israeli officials warned that the Jewish state would take decisive moves soon to restore security in the south.

    The Hamas movement, which Israel blacklists as terrorist organization, must take responsibility for the cross-border barrage, said an Israeli army spokesperson on Saturday, while stressing that Israel also regards Hamas as "the sole bearer of responsibility for Israel's military response."

    "Israel stresses that it will continue to take action against the terror attacks and rocket fire emanating form Gaza against Israeli citizens," said a statement from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office, echoing Barak's remarks.

    In a joint press conference with Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Olmert reiterated that the government will give the army time to operate in Gaza as the efforts to return residents of southern Israel to a normal life will take time.

A Palestinian walks by the burning garbage during a protest against Israeli air strikes on Gaza in the West Bank city of Hebron, Dec. 27, 2008.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    On the diplomatic front, Israel stepped up public relations efforts to garner international support for its military operations in the strip.

    Livni stressed to foreign officials that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 to give peace a chance, but Hamas overrun it, leaving Israel with "no other option but to strike" in order to protect its citizens.

    Addressing the humanitarian concerns of the international community, Olmert said that Israel's enemy is not Gazan residents but Hamas, and that his nation will do whatever it can to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the impoverished area.

    In the backyard, as many right-wing political leaders voiced support for the harsh measure, thousands of Israeli Arabs went on streets to protest against Israel's Gaza campaign, with some lawmakers accusing Barak of committing a war crime and attempting to gain political capital for the Feb. 10 general election. Clashes between demonstrators and security forces were reported in communities across the country, and Israeli police has been put on high alert.

    Shortly after the midday airstrikes, an Israeli was killed and several others wounded when a rocket from the Gaza Strip hit a house in southern Israel. Amid worries that Gazan militants would carry out a massive rocket barrage in retaliation, Israeli officials have put communities near the border on alert and urged local residents to stay in shelter rooms.

    In an interview published on Saturday morning, Israeli President Shimon Peres said that Israel has no plan to retake Gaza, playing down worries that only a reoccupation could blow away the clouds over southern Israel.

    Meanwhile, Barak did not rule out the possibility to conduct ground operations in the Palestinian territory. "We are a nation that seeks life, and we must do everything to restore calm," said the minister.

200 killed, 750 wounded in Israeli strikes against Gaza

    GAZA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Two hundred Palestinians were killed and 750 others wounded on Saturday in a series of rapid and intensive Israeli air strikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

    "The number of martyrs reached 200 and the wounded people are 750, including a number of civilian women and children," said Mu' awia Hassanien, chief of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian health ministry. 

Arab League, Egypt push for Arab unified measures on Israeli raids on Gaza 

    CAIRO, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Cairo-based Arab League (AL) has been busy preparing for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers set to be held next Wednesday following deadly attacks by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 200 Palestinians on Saturday.

    Earlier in the day, AL Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters the Arab foreign ministers' meeting will be held either on Sunday or Monday to discuss the situation after Israeli strikes.

UN chief calls for immediate halt of violence in Gaza, southern Israel 

    UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called for an immediate halt to the violence in Gaza and southern Israel, condemning excessive use of force leading to civilian casualties and ongoing rocket attacks by militants.

    In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Ban said that he is "deeply alarmed" by the heavy violence and bloodshed in Gaza, and the continuation of violence in southern Israel, and called for "an immediate halt to all violence." 

Israel resumes airstrikes on the Gaza Strip 

    GAZA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli F16 warplanes hovered on Saturday night on the Gaza Strip and hit targets belong to Islamic Hamas movement as well as makeshift rockets workshops and roads, witnesses and security sources said.

    The witnesses said that Israeli F16 warplanes destroyed the main road of Sallah el-Dein in northern Gaza Strip that leads to the towns of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and Jabalia, adding that the roads were destroyed and no injuries were reported. 

Israeli town has mixed feelings after Hamas' counterattack

    NETIVOT, Israel, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- "Where did it fall?" police and emergency crew shouted as they rushed to assist the injured from the Qassam attack in the southern Israeli town of Netivot. Everyone knows what "it" is.

    Moments later, the "Color Red" alarm sounded again in the town that homes around 25,000 Jewish residents, causing the already frightened children and adults to run to wherever they can hide. "Don't be scared," a mother comforted her child in a dark, damp shelter room, while listening for the blast of the Qassam rocket. 

Hamas' Haneya says Israel commits a massacre against Gaza 

    GAZA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Ismail Haneya, deposed Palestinian prime minister of Hamas, accused Israel on Saturday for committing "awful massacres against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."

    Haneya and Hamas government officials as wells as senior Hamas leaders were hiding in fear they might be targeted by Israel. However, Haneya showed up on Saturday night on al-Aqsa Television station run by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Analysts expect more violence in future after Israeli strikes on Gaza

    RAMALLAH, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian analysts expect more violence throughout the territories in future following Israeli massive airstrikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, causing extensive Palestinian casualties.

    Jihad Hamad, an Palestinian academic from Gaza's Azhar University told Xinhua that the Saturday strikes could just be the beginning of more conflict.