MID: Israel launches massive air raid on Gaza
27 Dec 2008 8:59 PM
GAZA CITY, Dec 27 AFP - Israeli aircraft have launched a massive air raid on Hamas installations inside the Gaza Strip.
The warplanes launched simultaneous attacks on at least 30 separate targets in Gaza City on Saturday, a Palestinian security official said.
At least 20 Palestinians were reported wounded in the raids, the security official said.
Israeli leaders had threatened to carry out a major operation into the Islamist-controlled territory in a bid to halt rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militant groups after a six-month truce ended on December 19.
Palestinian medics said earlier three militants were wounded in the north of the densely populated and besieged strip by Israeli shellfire, but a military spokesman in Tel Aviv denied involvement.
"At least two mortar rounds fired towards Israel landed in the northern Gaza Strip near the Erez crossing" with the Jewish state, he said.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement that its men had fired four mortar rounds at Israel.
