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Moscow: Hamas movement's headquarters in Gaza
Saturday were destroyed in deadly Israeli air raids as the two sides continued to exchange missiles in
escalating violence in the region.
The five-storey building was hit by five or six missiles or bombs
in quick succession around 4 a.m., smashing windows in buildings
nearby and starting a huge fire, a witness told RIA Novosti.
Witness reports said extensive damage was done to the building, in
which Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniye received Egypt's Prime
Minister Hisham Qandil during a visit Friday.
"The cabinet headquarters was targeted with four strikes and the
government stresses that it remains committed to its positions and
its stand alongside the people," the Hamas government said in a
statement.
Eyewitnesses and Hamas officials said the building located in the
Nasser neighborhood of Gaza City was virtually leveled in the
strike.
“The headquarters was completely destroyed and neighboring houses
were damaged as a result of the barbaric Israeli bombing,” a Hamas
official told AFP.
The government building had only recently been constructed after
an Israeli military operation in Gaza in 2008-09 in which over
1,000 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
Palestinian medics said 40 Palestinians have been killed and 345
wounded since Israel launched the aerial campaign against the
Palestinian enclave on Wednesday.
Israeli air raids on Saturday have killed at least eight
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and wounded dozens more, medics
say, with Palestinian security sources confirming that at least
three of the dead were Hamas fighters.
Israel has struck "over 200 targets including 120 rocket launch
sites and 20 smuggling tunnels since midnight", according to
Israel Defence Force spokesman Yoav Mordechai.
"The army has also attacked a building belonging to the Hamas
government. A headquarters used by the cabinet as a residence was
also destroyed," he said.
Israel says it also carried out strikes destroying the main
Palestinian Police headquarters in Gaza City. No one was in the
police building at the time, Al Jazeera reported.
It also attacked an internal security headquarters, which it said
had counter-espionage functions.
"At last, the house of Akhmed Randura, who commands the Hamas
forces in the north, was finally attacked," Israeli Army spokesman
Mordechai said.
The Israeli military say their main mission is to prevent rocket
strikes on southern Israel, which in the last few days have for
the first time been carried out as far north as Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem.
The intensity of rocket firing from the Palestinian side has
fallen off significantly since Friday night, Mordechai claimed.
Palestinian militants have fired more than 450 rockets at Israeli
cities, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
In a sign of further escalation, the Israeli Cabinet has
authorised the military to mobilise up to 75,000 reservists in
anticipation of a possible ground offensive on Gaza.
Two elite army brigades have completed the preparation to enter
the Palestinian enclave "if necessary", according to the military.
The Palestinians hope Russia and other international players will
help use their influence to promote peace in the region and
prevent the latest conflict in Gaza spreading, Palestinian
National Authority Ambassador to Russia Fayed Mustafa said
Saturday.
"We are in constant contact with the Russian Foreign Ministry...
and we hope their influence will be crowned with success, as also
the influence of other international organizations and states
aimed at stopping this aggression and assisting reconciliation and
satisfying the interest of all sides," he told Ekho Moskvy radio.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Friday appealed to both sides of
the conflict "to stop this dangerous escalation and restore calm".
He also announced through his spokesman that he intended to visit
the region shortly.
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