Israeli helicopters hit Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after attacks led by the Palestinian militant group killed 13 soldiers and dealt the Middle East's mightiest army its worst blow in two years.
Islamic Jihad said helicopter missiles struck a Gaza City seminary housing its leader Mohammed al-Hindi's office but that he was safely in hiding. The premises of a pro-Jihad charity were also attacked. Israel called both targets militant fronts.
In the latest violence, an Israeli helicopter razed an Islamic Jihad bomb laboratory in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, the army said. Witnesses said the structure housed a local group commander, who escaped, while a woman bystander was wounded.
The killing of 13 soldiers in the Gaza Strip this week by Palestinian militants has deepened already strong public support in Israel for a unilateral Gaza pullout rejected by Sharon's right-wing Likud party, Israeli media polls showed on Friday.
Israeli forces quit Rafah on Saturday after a sweep of the camp to recover their comrades' remains for burial.
Israeli left-wingers voiced hope the Gaza bloodshed would boost attendance at a Saturday rally in Tel Aviv calling to step up pressure on Sharon to pursue his Gaza pullout plan.
Israeli top brass are concerned that Palestinians in Gaza have adopted tactics of Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas who drove Israel from its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.
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