Israeli helicopter gunships fired rockets at installations of the Palestinian Authority's security apparatus in the West Bank city of Ramallah and in the Gaza Strip yesterday evening, killing at least two people.
The attacks followed a wave of bombings inside Israel, including one yesterday morning in which a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up and killed two Israeli teenagers in the village of Sdeh Hemed, near the West Bank.
Among the targets were the headquarters of Force 17 in Ramallah, an elite unit which serves as the presidential guard of the Palestinian Authority chairman, Mr Yasser Arafat. In recent days, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, has accused Force 17 of being behind some of the bomb attacks inside Israel.
Speaking after the aerial assault, an Israeli army spokesman said that "the action was initiated by the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces), and the purpose was to directly target those responsible for terror, since recently the Palestinian Authority has been responsible for targeting innocent civilians".
The attacks came as the Israeli security cabinet - consisting of select ministers - was meeting to discuss a response to the latest wave of attacks which has seen three bomb blasts inside Israel within 48 hours. Two more bombs, placed in public areas in two major Israeli cities, were discovered yesterday by passers-by and detonated by police.
Before ordering the aerial attack, Mr Sharon, who has faced growing public pressure to order a forceful military response, yesterday described Mr Arafat as "a leader of terror" and promised that, "even if [our] deterrence has been slightly eroded, it will be fully restored".
Israeli military observers suggested that the location of the targets, in Ramallah and Gaza, where Mr Arafat has his major headquarters, was intended to send a deterrent message to the Palestinian leader. But the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, speaking earlier in the day, after the suicide bombing, ruled out the possibility that Israel would target Palestinian leaders. "We have no plans to harm leaders," he said.
An aide to Mr Arafat, Mr Nabil Abu Rudeineh, who was with the Palestinian leader in Jordan for the Arab summit, said Israel's attack "destroys the last chances of peace", and he called for a "firm US position against the Israeli aggression".
The military wing of Hamas, Izz a-Din al Kassam, claimed responsibility for yesterday's suicide bombing, as well as for another suicide attack on Tuesday, in the north of Jerusalem. Hamas warned that seven more suicide bombers were ready to strike.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians reported yesterday that a nine-year-old boy was killed in the Rafah refugee camp and three other children were critically wounded when an Israeli shell they were playing with exploded.