Israeli air strikes level Hamas headquarters

Updated

The Israeli air force has bombed the headquarters of the Hamas movement in Gaza on the fourth day of its offensive against the Palestinian group.

Hamas officials confirmed the air raids were successful in bombing the office building of Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.

The Israeli military also said its air raids had caused severe damage to underground sites which are used to launch rockets into Israel, in particular Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Eyewitnesses and Hamas officials said the headquarters in the Nasser neighbourhood of Gaza City was virtually levelled in the strike.

"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.

"The headquarters was completely destroyed and neighbouring houses were damaged as a result of the barbaric Israeli bombing," a Hamas official told AFP.

Israel says it has now launched more than 800 strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza in the last four days. Hamas is believed to have launched about 500 missiles in that time.

The Israeli military says it hit 180 targets overnight on Friday and it released a video of an attack on the headquarters of the Hamas prime minister, believed to be the same building where he met his Egyptian counterpart on Friday.

The footage shows the building being completely destroyed.

Israel says it also targeted some of the many smuggling tunnels that run between Gaza and Egypt. One strike was so powerful it shook buildings in an Egyptian city 45 kilometres from the Gaza border.

Tensions are at boiling point in the region, with the Israeli cabinet yesterday approving the call up of as many as 75,000 army reservists.

Map: Conflict in Gaza and Israel: Click the blue pins for more information

Analysts say the move indicates Israel could be planning to mount a ground offensive against Hamas.

On Friday, Hamas said it fired a rocket at Jerusalem, the first from the territory ever to strike the outskirts of the Holy City.

BBC correspondent Jon Donnison reports from Gaza that more Palestinians were killed after a night of heavy fire from Israel.

"In the Jabali area near Gaza City, reports say at least 30 people have been injured - including children - after a house was hit," he said.

"The Hamas prime minister's office and cabinet was also hit. It was likely empty.

"Israel says it was responding to continued Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza; it says more than 550 have been launched since Wednesday."

The crisis is happening at a time when the Middle East is less stable than any time since the 1950s, with a civil war in Syria and unrest in other countries.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has urged both sides to halt what he called a "dangerous escalation", and will visit the region in the coming days in an attempt to broker a treaty.

Key videos: Israel-Gaza conflict Bob Carr urges Hamas to stop rocket attacks Andrew Geoghegan speaks to Foreign Minister Bob Carr about Australia's political stance on the ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli air strikes. Norman Hermant reports from Jerusalem Miriam Corowa speaks to ABC correspondent Norman Hermant who is in Jerusalem about the ongoing Israel-Gaza crisis. Eyewitness account Middle East correspondent Matt Brown reports from Gaza City: ".. an enormous round of Israeli airstrikes coming in." View from above Video released by the Israel Defence Force shows what the IDF says is a strike on Hamas rocket sites inside Gaza. 'Defensive operation' Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev tells 7.30 the military has been told to be "as surgical as possible" in its strikes on Gaza. Caught in the crossfire Misha Coleman, from aid agency Act for Peace, tells ABC News Breakfast there is growing concern for civilians caught up in the Gaza conflict.

ABC/wires

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, palestinian-territory-occupied, israel

First posted