GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israeli airstrikes pounded Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 225 and injuring 400, in what Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said was a response to escalating rocket attacks against Israel.
Yet Hamas blamed Israel for the artillery exchange, accusing it of violating a cease-fire intended to stem violence in the region.
Barak said the Israeli attacks would continue as long as necessary until Hamas militants were ready to "change their behavior."
"This will not be a short operation. The war on terrorism is an ongoing one, and we will have to stand firm in order to change the situation in the south," Barak said Saturday, one day after an Egypt-brokered cease-fire between Hamas and Israel expired.
Barak told CNN that Israel was compelled to respond with force after evacuating Gaza three years ago "to the last square inch" only to face continuous attacks.
"We have to experience shelling and rocket attacks on innocent civilians, that's something we will not accept," he told CNN. "I am confident that the American government would not have waited one day before they would have responded if San Diego [California] would have been bombed or shelled or rocketed from Tijuana [Mexico] with thousands of rockets."
Hamas vowed to retaliate.
"We will stand up, we will defend our own people, we will defend our land, and we will not give up," senior Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said.
Hamdan also denied accusations that Hamas had provoked Israel attacks by violating the cease-fire with rocket attacks.
"Hamas did not fire rockets through the cease-fire. It's clear that the one who violated the cease-fire is the Israelis," Hamdan told CNN. "For half the period of cease-fire, they closed all the checkpoints, and they killed 28 Palestinians."
Tensions had been building between Hamas and Israel despite the six-month truce. The tenuous agreement was weakened in recent weeks as violence escalated.
The Arab League condemned the attacks and scheduled an emergency meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday to discuss the situation. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. (noon ET).
"The situation is lending itself to escalation," Secretary General Amre Moussa told CNN International. "The attacks have resulted in casualties among the civilians, among the young, among the population."
Moussa said the Arab League would call on the U.N. Security Council to issue a statement or resolution calling on all parties to cease fire and enter into mediation.
"Also, we are calling on the Palestinians to close ranks and stop feuds between different organizations in Palestine," Moussa said, referring to struggles between warring factions struggling for power
Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi also accused Israel of ignoring the terms of the cease-fire that expired December 19.
"This is certainly a very cruel escalation, a relentless bombardment of a captive civilian population that has already been under siege for months, that has been deprived of basic requirements like food and medicines and fuel and power," she said from Ramallah in the West Bank.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the United States places the blame for the Israeli military action squarely on Hamas.
"We want the cease-fire to be restored, but we understand that Israel is reacting to the hundreds of rockets that have been fired upon the innocent people of Israel over the last few days," he said. "Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also called for the cease-fire to be restored.
"We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence there. The cease-fire must be restored immediately and fully respected," he said.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was "deeply alarmed" and called for "an immediate halt to all violence," a spokesman said in a statement.
Israeli military officials accused Hamas militants of firing more than 65 rockets into southern Israel on Wednesday, and the Israeli air force said it killed a Hamas militant whom it accused of helping launch the rockets against Israel.
The Israeli Defense Forces said Israeli aircraft were attacking "a series of Hamas targets and infrastructure facilities," including headquarters, training camps and weaponry storage warehouses. Map »
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for patience, insisting that Israel wants to avoid causing an "humanitarian disaster" in Gaza.
"The instructions that we have given to our forces are to refrain from inflicting injury and harm on the innocent," he said at a news conference with Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Yet scores of deaths and injuries have been claimed on both sides as aid organizations urged Israel to cease the attacks.
An Israeli woman was killed Saturday when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a house in Netivot in southern Israel, about six miles east of Gaza, Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said. Two other Israelis were in "medium to serious" condition at Soroko Hospital in Bersheba, he said.
Palestinian medical sources said 110 people were hospitalized in Gaza on Saturday in serious to critical condition.
Hospitals were being overwhelmed with patients and were running out of space and supplies.
"The hospital is not accustomed to accept mass casualties like this," said Dr. Mahmoud el-Khazndar, who works in Gaza City's Shifa Hospital. He said he had treated at least half a dozen children.
"Hundreds of people come suddenly to the hospital ... I believe more than 500 people or more due to this action. Really, the hospital is in need, in short supply of everything ... to treat these injured people," the physician said.
Wounded people could be seen lying in the streets of Gaza City, and passers-by were doing what they could to summon help.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees urged the Israeli government to stop its bombardment.
"UNRWA recognizes Israel's legitimate security concerns. However, its actions should be in conformity with international humanitarian law, and it should not use disproportionate force," the agency said in a news release.
Saeb Erakat, adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, urged Israeli and Hamas leaders to put another cease-fire in place.
"I believe this is the only way out. I don't think this problem can be solved through military means," he told CNN. "I don't think it can be solved through aggression, through violence. Violence will breed more violence."
Abbas' Fatah party government is locked in a power struggle with the Hamas movement.
On Friday, Israel opened three border crossings for the first time in 10 days to allow food, medical supplies and other humanitarian goods into Gaza, but Palestinian rocket attacks continued.
A Gaza-based reporter, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, said a number of Hamas police stations were hit Saturday, killing some senior police commanders.
Palestinian Maj. Gen. Tawfeeq Al-Jaber, a senior commander in the Hamas police force, was killed, as was Ismail Jabari, who headed the special police force in Gaza, Palestinian sources said.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/27/gaza.israel.strikes/index.html
Topic: Israel vows to keep up Gaza attacks through the night (Read 1279 times)