Five killed as Israel hits back

Five people were killed today as Israeli warplanes and helicopters hit Hamas targets in four separate strikes.

The latest attack happened tonight on a car near the Boureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing two people and wounding 35 others, witnesses and Palestinian officials said.

The identity of the victims was not immediately known, and the military did not comment.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad threatened revenge but Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged more raids, further clouding Middle East peace efforts.

“The Israeli military will continue to act to foil terror attacks, capture murderers and liquidate terror organisations,” Mr Sharon said in a speech to parliament.

The retaliation came a day after Palestinians fired eight homemade rockets from Gaza into Israel.

In the first strike, Israeli warplanes bombed a building under construction where the Israeli military says Hamas was storing homemade Qassam rockets.

Eleven Palestinians were hurt in the bombing, including two children aged two and three. The alleged weapons workshop was near the house of Islamic Jihad leader Abdullah Shami, who was not hurt.

After the air strike, two masked men were seen loading items from the damaged building into a white pick-up truck. Less than three hours later, the truck was hit by two missiles fired from an Israeli helicopter.

The two Hamas members in the truck and a bystander were killed, and 12 Palestinians were hurt, including four who were in serious condition.

The pick-up had stopped at traffic lights near a petrol station, on a busy street crowded with schoolchildren, when the missiles hit the front of the vehicle. A nursery and a school had just let out students for the day.

In the third attack, a missile destroyed a one-room house on the outskirts of Gaza City. A second missile demolished a car parked nearby, Palestinian officials said. The car’s passengers apparently fled before the missile hit.

Except for a six-week Palestinian ceasefire in the summer, clashes and bombings have continued unabated.

The Palestinians have been unable to field a stable government, and with Israel and the United States boycotting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, no recent contacts have been held between officials.

In his speech, Sharon called Arafat “the greatest obstacle to peace”.

“Israel is determined to bring about his removal from the political arena,” he added.