Israel attacks 'training camp'

Fourteen Palestinian militants have been killed and more than 20 injured in the deadliest attack in Gaza for nearly four months.

Israeli tanks and warplanes pounded what authorities claimed was a Hamas training camp in revenge for a double suicide bombing a week ago which killed 16 passengers on two Israeli buses.

Hamas, the Palestinian faction behind the near-simultaneous bus bombs in Beersheba last Tuesday, vowed vengeance for the latest killings.

The growing violence could further complicate Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw troops and settlers from the occupied Gaza Strip by the end of next year.

Militants are determined to claim any Israeli pullout as a victory, but the army has vowed to smash armed factions first.

Israeli leaders had pledged harsh reprisals, including the resumption of a campaign to assassinate Hamas leaders, in response to the Beersheba bombs, the first suicide attacks in the Jewish state in nearly six months. Last night tanks stationed at the Nahal Oz border crossing between Israel and Gaza opened fire on the town of Shijaia, a Hamas stronghold, while warplanes and helicopters launched missiles, witnesses said.

The army said it had " targeted a training field during training of Hamas terrorists".

It said Hamas members had been learning to plant explosives, launch makeshift rockets and infiltrate Jewish settlementsand military posts. The Israeli assault inflicted the highest single-day death toll since 12 May, when troops killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza City and the southern Gaza Strip.

Today Gaza's main hospital was overwhelmed by casualties, some were bystanders, medical officials said.

Crowding the bloodied halls of Shifa Hospital, hundreds of Hamas men carried their dead comrades aloft crying "Allahu Akhbar" (God is greatest) and vowing revenge.

Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said: "The enemy will pay for its crimes with a heavy price of blood and bodies in the streets of al-Quds [Jerusalem], Bet Lid, Dizengoff and Hadera," Islamic Jihad said in a statement, referring to the targets of past suicide bombings.

Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath branded it a " terrorist attack by Israeli occupation forces" and accused Israel of trying to thwart efforts to restore calm.

Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, is the main Islamic militant group leading a campaign of suicide bombings during a nearly four-year uprising.

Yesterday Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz said Hamas leaders had apparently fled Damascus following Israeli threats to assassinate them.

But Mr Mofaz warned: "We will chase them down."

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza dismissed Mr Mofaz's remarks as " Israeli propaganda". Hamas said last week's bombings were in revenge for Israel's killing of two of its leaders in Gaza earlier this year.