Palestinians: At least 14 killed in IAF missile strike in Gaza

At least 14 Palestinians were killed and 30 wounded when Israel Air Force helicopters hit a Hamas site in Gaza City around midnight Monday, witnesses said.

Four of the wounded sustained critical injuries, and most or all of the casualties were Hamas members. The first 11 bodies identified all belonged to Hamas members in their 20s, none of them senior figures.

The strike targeted a Hamas community center complex, including a building and an outdoor lot that the army says is used by the Hamas military wing for training.

An Israel Defense Forces statement listed events that it said took place at the lot in recent days, including assembly of a large bomb and a suicide bomber's vest, practice in hijacking vehicles and training in preparing and firing mortars and rockets.

Dozens of members of the Hamas military wing, Iz a-Din al-Qassam, were meeting at the building during the time of the attack, Palestinian sources said. The building, which includes offices, is named after Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel in April.

However, a statement by the Hamas military wing said the IDF struck a "scouts camp where a group of fighters was training," and pledged to hit back at Israel.

"This ugly Israeli crime ... will not pass unpunished," said Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri, calling it a "a new wave of aggression committed against our people and against our sons."

"It's an ongoing war," said al-Masri. "One day for us and one day for them."

Angry militants gathered at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, some with blood on their clothes from helping victims, shouting, "Revenge, revenge."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the security establishment decided last week to increase assassinations of Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, in the wake of last week's double bus bombing in Be'er Sheva, for which Hamas claimed responsibility. Sixteen Israelis were killed in last Tuesday's attack.

The IDF is preparing for the possibility that the missile strike could lead to an increase of Qassam rocket attacks from northern Gaza on the Negev town of Sderot. Palestinians fired a Qassam rocket at Sderot on Monday, where it landed near a cemetery and did not cause any injuries.

Witnesses said IAF helicopter gunships fired at least five missiles at the Hamas complex, located in the Sajaiya neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City - a known Hamas stronghold. The helicopters hovered overhead after the explosions.

Gaza sources said there were two rounds of missile strikes: two missiles were fired at first, and then the rest were fired after additional Hamas activists arrived at the scene.

4 Palestinians hurt by IDF fire in West BankIn the West Bank, at least four Palestinians were injured by IDF fire near the settlement of Itamar on Monday night. The Palestinians had been throwing Molotov cocktails at the troops.

In the Gaza Strip, two mortars struck the Neveh Dekalim settlement Monday night. One landed next to a synagogue, lightly damaging it. No injuries were reported.

Meanwhile, the sound of an explosion in Jerusalem was caused by a bus blowing a tire, not, as initial reports stated, a terror attack.

Earlier Monday, the IDF demolished the family home of the Mugrabi family in the Deheisheh refugee camp, claiming that many members of the family were involved in planning suicide attacks inside Israel and shooting ambushes in the West Bank.

Ahmed Mugrabi was responsible manufacturing bombs and dispatching the terrorists who carried out suicide missions in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Beit Yisrael and Kiryat Yuvel in March 2002, in which 13 people were killed.

Ali Mugrabi was one of the planners of a suicide mission in Rishon Letzion in May, 2002, in which two Israelis died and 36 were wounded. Additional family members were involved in planning attacks and aided those carrying out the attacks.

	Palestinians carrying a wounded man to the hospital after an Israeli attack on a Hamas site in Gaza City early Tuesday. (Reuters)