Israel kills 13 in air attack on Hamas

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli helicopters attacked a Hamas training field in Gaza early today, killing at least 13 Palestinians and wounding 25, officials from both sides said. It was Israel’s deadliest strike in the area in four months.

The attack came a week after Hamas carried out a double suicide bombing in the southern city of Beersheba, killing 16 Israelis and breaking a six-month lull in major violence against the Jewish state.

The Israeli military said the air force targeted the field, near the Israeli border, because it was being used by Hamas for bomb assembly and the training of anti-Israeli fighters. The Hamas military wing, in a statement, acknowledged its use as a training site.

Hundreds of Hamas militants gathered at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City – some with blood on their clothes from carrying victims – shouting “revenge, revenge.”

“This bloody crime is a new wave of aggression committed against our people and against our sons,” Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said. “It’s an ongoing war. One day for us and one day for them.”

The Israeli statement said training at the site “was led by senior Hamas terrorists who were involved in the carrying out of deadly terror attacks and attempted attacks.” The military said a suicide bomb prepared at the site was discovered last Tuesday in the underwear of a Palestinian at the Erez checkpoint between Gaza and Israel.

The statement also listed events that it said took place at the field 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.

A group of men had gathered in the field about half an hour before the first two explosions were heard, killing and wounding many of them, according to witnesses. The other three blasts went off as people were running away, they said.

With smoke rising from the field in the Shajaiyeh section of Gaza City, a known Hamas stronghold, Palestinians were seen searching the blacked-out area with candles and flashlights, looking for victims.

Juma Shaka, a hospital spokesman, said 13 people were killed and 25 wounded, three critically. The casualty toll was the highest in Gaza City since May, when a spate of heavy fighting killed 31 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers.