November 14, 2012 -- Updated 1812 GMT (0212 HKT)
Hamas chief killed
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: More Israeli air strikes are heard
- NEW: An Israeli spokesman calls the operation defensive after rocket attacks from Gaza
- A Hamas statement says the attacks open "the gates of hell" on Israel
- Ahmed al-Ja'abari, the head of Hamas' military wing, was killed in the first strike
Palestinian leaders
immediately condemned the Israeli attacks as an escalation, with
President Mahmoud Abbas calling for an emergency session of the Council
of the League of Arab States to discuss what he called Israeli
"aggression," the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.
Hamas' military wing warned that Israelis had opened "the gates of hell on themselves."
Palestinian medical
sources said nine people died in the air strikes, including a young
girl, and 35 others were wounded, with 10 in serious condition. However,
the health minister in Gaza, Mufid al-Mukhalalati, put the death toll
at seven, including two young girls.
The dead included Ahmed
al-Ja'abari, the popular and influential head of the Hamas military
wing, and his son, the group said on its website.
At least nine Israeli
strikes occurred in the day, and Hamas said there had been more than 10.
As night fell, more air strikes could be heard, but details on the
further attacks were not immediately available.
The Israeli operation --
which the military calls "Operation Pillar of Defense" -- came after
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned this week of pending
retaliation by Israel for increased rocket attacks from Gaza.
"I would ask you, I'd ask
any person around the planet: What would you do if your population was
targeted day after day?" Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told
CNN, later adding that "you have to see our operation as fundamentally
defensive."
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