Hamas fires over 160 rockets into Israel since Tuesday(1)

Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    GAZA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Hamas on Sunday said it had fired over 200 homemade missile weapons, including 160 Qassam rockets, into southern Israel in six days as part of its response to an Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip.

    "We have launched 160 Qassam rockets and 100 mortar shells into Israeli settlements and army bases around Gaza Strip," Hamas' armed wing Ezz el-Deen al-Qassam said in a statement.

    Since Israel launched the offensive on Tuesday, 66 rockets have targeted Sderot town, one km away from northeast Gaza Strip, according to Hamas.

    "We will repress the occupation army at the outskirts of Gaza Strip," Hamas vowed.

    More than 37 Palestinians, including at least 11 civilians, have been killed in air and artillery bombings since Israel launched the offensive on Tuesday.

Palestinians stand in front of a destroyed building of Hamas's Interior Ministry after it was targeted by an Israeli missile in Gaza Jan. 18, 2008. Israel closed border crossings with the Gaza Strip and destroyed the Hamas-run Interior Ministry on Friday in what witnesses said was an air strike, stepping up what it says is a campaign to halt Palestinian rocket attacks.(Xinhua Photo)
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Fresh Israeli strike on Gaza kills one Palestinian, wounds 46

    GAZA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- One Palestinian woman was killed and 46 others were injured in a fresh Israeli strike near the abandoned headquarters of the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza City on Friday, the Doha-based al-Jazeera Satellite Channel reported.

    The footage of al-Jazeera shows that many children who sustained wounds were rushed to hospitals to get treatment.