| Sharon looks smarter every day. |
Before dawn, Israeli aircraft launched missiles at four militant targets in and around Gaza City, destroying the offices of a leading Fatah militant and two other militant groups, Israeli military sources and Palestinian witnesses said. They said a fifth missile fired later destroyed a bridge in the north Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
In separate strikes, Israeli aircraft fired missiles into open fields in northern Gaza âfor deterrent purposesâ, an Israeli military source said. Israel Radio described the action as being aimed against rocket launchers.
Residents of Beit Hanoun told Reuters they wanted militants to stop firing rockets into Israel so that economic reconstruction could begin after numerous Israeli ground raids in the past five years of violence.
| Whoa. There's a clue. |
The air strikes destroyed two major electrical generators and plunged Gaza City and much of the densely populated northern strip into darkness for hours. The army said it had not deliberately targeted electricity infrastructure. After emergency repairs, at least 35,000 people remained without power after daybreak.
Late on Tuesday, Israeli artillery fired on what the army said were rocket launching sites in northern Gaza after a rocket landed in a street in a town in southern Israel. There were no further rocket attacks by late afternoon on Wednesday.