The Palestinian leadership has appealed to the international community for protection after a series of Israeli air and sea attacks in which at least one Palestinian died, and 120 more were wounded. The attacks were in retaliation for today's bomb explosion in the Gaza Strip, close to a school bus carrying Jewish children.
Missiles were fired into Gaza from helicopters and warships; many residential buildings were hit. Witnesses said that missiles were landing at a rate of about one per minute throughout Gaza City, knocking out electricity supplies and sending panicked Palestinians screaming into the streets. Around 25 people went to hospital suffering burns and shrapnel wounds from the bombardments by helicopter gunships and naval vessels off the coast, which also targeted Rafah near the border with Egypt and the town of Khan Yunis.
Witnesses said numerous Palestinian security buildings had been hit in Gaza City, along with a headquarters of Fatah and of the Palestinian leader's personal guard known as Force 17, and the Palestinian satellite television station close his office and home.
Two Israelis were killed and nine people, including five children, were injured in today's bomb attack involving a school bus. The Israeli government says it is holding the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, directly responsible for the attack.
Three groups have said that they carried out the bomb attack. The Palestinian Authority has denied any connection with the explosion and has said that it would open an investigation into the attack. The Israeli Prime Minister immediately met with his security cabinet. Ehud Barak said that he was shocked by the attack.
An anonymous caller, claiming to be from the "Battalions of the Martyrs of al-Aqsa - Armed Wing", said that his group was responsible for the blast. However, he denied that the group was linked to any Palestinian organisation, but said that the bomb was to avenge Palestinian deaths during the seven-week-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. The caller also claimed to have a videotape of the explosion.
A group calling themselves the "Hizbollah Palestine" as well as the group known as the "Forces of the Martyr Omar al-Mukhtar", have also claimed responsibility for the attack. Almost 250 people, most of them Palestinians, have died in the violence sparked by the 28 September visit of right wing Jewish opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, to a Jerusalem holy site sacred to both Muslims and Jews.
