In a strong retaliation to rocket fire on its fifth largest city Ashkelon, Israeli warplanes pounded several Hamas bases, killing one of the group's top commanders and injuring at least eight others.

In the heaviest bombardment in the Gaza Strip since ceasefire was declared on January 18, 2009, following three weeks of Israeli offensive, Hamas military wing's senior field commander Issa al-Batran was killed in overnight raids near the Magazhi refugee camp, the Palestinian sources said.

40-year-old Issa, thought to have been involved in manufacturing rockets, was the target of a number of Israeli assassination attempts, the most recent of which resulted in the death of his wife and five children in January.

In a statement, the military wing of Hamas vowed to avenge the death of Issa, whom it identified as a senior field commander. "These new Zionist crimes will not pass without answer," the statement said.

Israeli fighter jets targeted the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood and Ansar security compound in western Gaza, which served as a training site for Hamas commanders and was used as headquarters for high-rank Palestinian Authority officials like Yasser Arafat in the past. Other targets included sites in Dir al-Balah and Rafiah area of southern Gaza.

The Israeli operation was in retaliation to the rocket attack on Ashkelon. The Grad-type rocket hit an open area near the coastal resort on Friday, causing some damage but no casualties.

The National Resistance Committee, a group which supports the Islamist Hamas government in Gaza, claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, Israel Radio reported.

The Israel Defence Forces confirmed the air-strikes, which the army said targeted a Hamas-linked site in the northern Gaza Strip, a weapons-manufacturing warehouse in the central Gaza Strip and a weapons-smuggling tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.

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