Israeli planes pound Gaza factories

ISRAELI aircraft attacked suspected weapons factories throughout the Gaza Strip yesterday, pressing an offensive against Palestinian militants despite a pledge by a top Hamas leader to halt rocket fire against Israel.

The air strikes knocked out power to eastern Gaza City and damaged several buildings, but no injuries were reported. Later in the day, aircraft fired missiles at an empty field that militants used to launch rockets at Israel, in a strike meant to deter further attacks, the military said. Israeli security officials said they would wait to see whether Palestinian attacks would in fact halt before calling off the military assault launched over the weekend.

Yesterday afternoon, militants launched what appeared to be a mortar shell at an Israeli community north of Gaza, the army said. It said there were no injuries or damage.