Though Israel had been threatening to end its policy of restraint that saw only limited strikes against rocket launchers and squads in recent days, the timing of the raid came as a surprise to Gazans. It came in mid-morning, when official buildings and security compounds were filled with personnel and children were at school, and not, as many had anticipated, at night.

Expecting some kind of Israeli response, the Hamas leaders in Gaza had already been in hiding for two days.

In a statement issued immediately after the raid, the Israeli military warned that “This operation will be continued, expanded and intensified as much as will be required.”

“We face a period that will be neither easy nor short, and will require determination and perseverance until the necessary change is achieved in the situation in the south,” Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, said.

In Waco, Texas, where President Bush is vacationing, a White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said: “Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people. The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.”

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt said in a statement, “Egypt condemns the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip and blames Israel, as an occupying force, for the victims and the wounded.”

At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, scores of dead bodies were laid out in front of the morgue waiting for family members to identify them. At the Gaza City police station, at least 15 traffic police who had been training in a courtyard were killed on the spot.

... contd.