http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1695000/1695136.stm

Friday, 7 December, 2001, 08:56 GMT

Israel launches new raids on Gaza City

The blasts blew out windows in nearby apartment blocks
After a lull of 48 hours, Israel has renewed its attacks on the Palestinian territories with an air raid and a ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
The BBC's correspondent in Gaza, Kylie Morris, said that at least 20 people were wounded when F-16 warplanes bombed the Palestinian Authority's main police
headquarters in Gaza City.

At around the same time, Israeli tanks and troops entered the Palestinian camp at Khan Yunis in the south of Gaza, raiding homes and making arrests.
The military action marks a renewal of retaliatory strikes launched after suicide bombers killed 25 Israelis at the weekend. The BBC correspondent says she was woken by a loud explosion, and saw clouds of smoke rising into the sky in the area of the main police station. Israeli planes made two missile strikes on the police compound, reducing two four-storey buildings to rubble, but medical officials said that those wounded were not
suffering life-threatening injuries. A Palestinian official told AFP that the Israeli troops who
carried out searches near Khan Yunis were led by masked undercover soldiers.
"The Israelis made an incursion of one kilometre east of Khan Yunis, first with undercover troops wearing masks, who arrested activists, and then with tanks and troops," said Khalid Abu al-Ula, a senior Palestinian security liaison committee official.

Applying pressure

The Israeli army said in a statement that Friday's bomb strikes were aimed against "Palestinian Authority bodies that support and aid terrorist activity".

The BBC's correspondent in Jerusalem, James Reynolds, says the military action is designed to maintain pressure on the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, who Israel says has failed to control militant groups.

The attacks came after a pause announced by Israel to allow Mr Arafat a chance to make good on promises to arrest suspected militants.

Scheduled talks

Mr Arafat announced on Thursday that Palestinian and Israeli officials would attend a US-brokered meeting on Friday morning to discuss security.

US envoy Anthony Zinni had arranged to "restart the meeting of the security committee with the Americans and Israelis and Palestinians", Mr Arafat said without giving details.

At a meeting with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, Mr Arafat received a list of demandsfrom Mr Sharon, who had met the minister in Jerusalem.

The demands included the arrest of militants and surrender of "illegal weapons".

According to a senior official at Mr Sharon's office, the Israeli prime minister had told Mr Maher that Israel had "no intention of hurting Arafat" and would not bomb Palestinian jails containing detained militants.

Arrests

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday that Mr Arafat had to do more to rein in extremists, despite the violent opposition that an unsuccessful bid to arrest
Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin provoked.

"The very fact that they are resisting [Mr Arafat's] authority makes it all the more important for him to apply that authority," he said in Brussels.

In all, Palestinian security officials say they have detained about 180 militants since the weekend suicide bomb attacks, and raids continued overnight, although only one new
arrest was made. Israel has dismissed most of the arrests as token, with one of Mr Sharon's officials describing those detained as "retired terrorists".

However, Mr Sharon's office was also quoted as saying that "four or five" key suspects had been picked up.