Israeli F-16 fighter jets have attacked Palestinian targets north of Gaza City, and helicopter gunships staged a series of raids on the Gaza Strip early today, destroying the compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The new raids come in the wake of a suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem last night and the deaths of three other Israelis.
Palestinian sources said 30 missiles were fired at Mr Arafat's compound but there have been no reports of injuries. The headquarters - which has a visitors list including former US president Mr Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair - has been reduced to rubble.
The Palestinian leadership denounced the destruction of the offices, branding it a "serious attack" on Palestinian sovereignty.
Although Mr Arafat has been confined to his offices in Ramallah, the West Bank, since December 3rd, a close aide said the attack on the Gaza office was "proof of the bankruptcy of Sharon's policy".
A security source said Mr Arafat's compound went up in flames during the sustained missile and rocket attack, and in a separate air attack in Ramallah one Palestinian was killed.
Eleven Israelis died in a suicide blast in a Jerusalem café near the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last night, and three more were killed in a shooting in the northern coastal resort town of Netanya.
Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire near a hotel after taking up positions in two different places along a pedestrian walkway, killing an Israeli woman, a baby and an Israeli Arab. The gunmen were shot dead by police.
About 50 people were also wounded in Jerusalem and more than 100 in Netanya, including three in critical condition and 20 others in serious condition, officials said.
An anonymous caller to a Bethlehem TV station respectively claimed responsibility for the Netanya attack and the Jerusalem bomb on behalf of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Mr Arafat's Fatah movement.
The Jerusalem blast was also claimed by the radical Islamic movement Hamas.
AFP