Israeli Apache helicopters on Thursday night fired missiles at Palestinian positions in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Ramallah, as well as targets in the Gaza Strip.
In Ramallah, the missiles hit a Palestinian police station situated near the offices of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. This latest strike caused power blackouts in both Ramallah and its twin city El Bireh. According to Palestinian sources in Jenin, the Israeli missiles targeted positions belonging to the Fatah movement.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes and helicopters fired at Palestinian positions in Gaza, wounding over 20 people. According to various reports, it seems the missiles damaged a compound serving several of the Palestinian security forces as well as two positions of Force 17 unit.
Earlier, the occupation troops killed a Palestinian boy on the Egyptian border. The boy, Rami Zurob, 13, reportedly died after being rushed to the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
Israeli Tanks Enter Gaza City; Six Palestinian Kids Injured in Rafah
Israeli tanks and troops moved into a Palestinian self-rule suburb on the south side of Gaza City Thursday, destroying a security building and raising the Israeli flag over another, Palestinian security officials and witnesses told AFP.
The tanks rolled into Zahra as part of sweeping Israeli military retaliation to a deadly Palestinian attack on a bus in the West Bank Wednesday, which triggered overnight air raids and a tank incursion in Ramallah.
Earlier, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was in critical condition after Israeli troops shot him and five other boys in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian hospital sources said.
The 11-year-old was hit in the head when Israeli troops opened fire on civilians from a watchtower on the border with Egypt, the sources said.
Two boys aged 13, two aged 14 and a 15-year-old were also hurt.
All six were taken to the Rafah hospital.
"The Israeli soldiers, monitoring the border with Egypt, opened fire on civilians from the watchtowers and tanks that have been stationed in the area since Thursday morning," a witness said.
A Palestinian security official said that the Israeli army, sporadically and without provocation, opens fire on civilians from the Tal Al Sultan position it mans in the area.
Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes on the largest Palestinian security installation in the Gaza Strip and other targets overnight Wednesday in a wave of raids that lasted hours.
ISRAELI FORCES LEVEL PALESTINIAN TV, RADIO CENTER IN RAMALLAH
Israeli army bulldozers on Thursday demolished the Palestinian television and radio broadcasting center in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and blew up the main transmitting mast, an AFP reporter on the scene said.
The broadcasting center was heavily bombed in overnight helicopter raids and the bulldozers were ploughing the last remains into the ground. Israeli army sappers then blew up the antenna used to transmit programs across the West Bank.
Since the center was hit Wednesday night by Israeli retaliation strikes for a deadly West Bank attack, official Palestinian programming has been produced and broadcast from local independent stations, officials said.
The attacks come after ten Israelis were killed and dozens others wounded when Palestinian gunmen ambushed an Israeli bus near the West Bank settlement of Emmanuel.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Israeli government sources in Jerusalem said that the perpetrators' names had appeared on the list of 33 wanted terrorists Israel transferred to the PA last week via US envoy Anthony Zinni, but the PA did not arrest them.
In the retaliatory strikes, the Israeli warplanes attacked the Dahaniya airport in southern Gaza, destroying its radar installation and a security installation in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Helicopter gunships also targeted a building in President Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters in Ramallah early Thursday, Palestinian security officials said, adding that Arafat had been evacuated from the building a short time earlier.
Palestinian sources reported that a Palestinian man identified as Ahmad Mohammad al-Daneasy, 26, was killed in the Ramallah attack, according to Haaretz.
A woman died in Gaza of a heart attack Wednesday night during the raids, medical sources told Abu Dhabi satellite channel.
Palestinian Health Ministry officials said 40 people were hurt in the Gaza attacks.
"It is impossible to implement our commitments under the shadow of the comprehensive war," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said. "The minute this campaign stops we will carry out our duties," he was quoted as saying.
The Israeli cabinet met late Wednesday night to authorize wide-ranging responses to the deadly attack near Emmanuel that killed ten Jewish settlers and wounded dozens. Security sources said the response would be an "ongoing operation" that would last a number of days and include harsh actions against the PA.
The Security cabinet ordered the occupation army to prepare to act swiftly within Palestinian controlled cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in order to arrest militants and confiscate illegal weapons, said the Israeli paper.
The defense establishment was also asked to present the cabinet with a plan to combat Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other resistance organizations -- Albawaba.com
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