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GAZA, December 27 (RIA Novosti) - At least 195 people were killed and about 300 wounded Saturday by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, and one Israeli was killed and five injured when Palestinian militants fired rockets into southern Israel in response.

Israel's air force launched on Saturday a number of simultaneous airstrikes targeting the ruling radical Islamist movement Hamas's paramilitary units. Israel's military said the airstrikes would be continued and expanded if required.

Doctors said the number of victims was unprecedented. "I wouldn't even try to count the injured," local health authority spokesman Moawiya Hassanain said.

According to preliminary information, most of the injured in the airstrikes are members of Hamas or the Gaza police controlled by the Islamist movement, which runs the Palestinian enclave on the Mediterranean.

After the bombing, the streets of Gaza became flooded with schoolchildren trying to get home.

"There is complete chaos," said one resident, who was trying to find her daughter, a student. "No one can find anyone and the phone networks are not working."

Al Jazeera reported that Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip for Palestinians affected by Israeli airstrikes.

The foreign ministers of Arab countries will gather on Sunday in Cairo for an emergency meeting on the situation in the Gaza Strip, the secretary general of the Arab League said Saturday.

Russia called on Israel and the Palestinian National Authority to end the violence against each other and to resolve regional problems through dialogue.

"Moscow believes that large-scale military action against the Gaza Strip, which has already led to big losses and suffering for Palestinian civilians, should be stopped immediately," the Foreign Ministry said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued a personal "last-minute" appeal to Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday to stop rocket fire at Israel and promised to use "Israel's might" to strike Hamas.

"I say to you in a last-minute call, stop it," Olmert said in an interview with the Arab TV station Al Arabiya, adding: "I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to strike Hamas and [Islamic] Jihad."

On Wednesday, Palestinian militants fired over 40 rockets and 20 mortar shells at southern Israeli border towns in the largest daily attack since the end of a six-month ceasefire in Gaza six days ago.

Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group in June 2007.

NEWS @RIA Novosti

17:22 27/12/2008 By Haaretz Service - Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a press conference on Saturday in which he defended Israel Defense Forces strikes that left dozens deadin the Gaza Strip Saturday, saying Israel had no choice and that "the time has come to fight.

" Barak said the IDF and Israel Air Force attacks had destroyed "terrorism infrastructure" and hit over 150 Hamas militants. He also said the current campaign would be widened and will continue for some time.

Barak said Israel cannot stand by while rockets strike the communities of the western Negev and "won't let terror hurt our citizens or soldiers."

Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired at least 25 Qassam and Grad rockets into southern Israel on Saturday after the IDF campaign began. One of the rockets directly struck a home in the town of Netivot, leaving one Israel dead and four with moderate to serious injuries.

NEWS @HAARETZ

GAZA, Dec 27 (KUNA) - Israeli warplanes staged wide scale strikes on Saturday targeting Hamas-occupied buildings and strongholds in Gaza Strip killing at least 155 people and wounding some 200 others, according to medical officials.
Dr. Muawiah Hassanain, in charge of the emergency ward of the Palestinian Health Ministry, said in a statement that many women and children were among the scores of people who were wounded in the multiple air strikes on Gaza city and several of the strip towns.

"Many bloodied corpses of martyrs still lay on ground of of corridors of the hospitals for the morgues have become overloaded with the human bodies," said the doctor, illustrating the extent of the dramatic situation at the hospitals, where victims were hurriedly admitted.

Some of the deadliest strikes was the one that targeted the police headquarters, where the local Hamas-controlled security authority was holding a graduation ceremony for police cadets. Witnesses said the courtyard of the building was littered with disfigured bodies of policemen while survivors scrambled to whisk the alive ones to the nearest hospitals aboard civil cars.

Successive thunderous explosions echoed throughout the city and the strip when the roaring aircraft bombed the Hamas-occupied buildings and strongholds today.

NEWS @KUNA

CHKALOVSKY (Moscow Region), December 26 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Air Force is testing a new missile for the S-400 Triumf air defense system, the Air Force commander said on Friday.

The S-400 (SA-21 Growler) is designed to intercept and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles), twice the range of the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot, and 2.5 times that of the S-300PMU-2.

The system is expected to form the cornerstone of Russia's theater air and missile defenses up to 2020 or even 2025.

"The S-400 system is being successfully deployed with air defense units. At present, we are testing a new missile for this system," Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said.

Russia successfully conducted last year live firing tests of the S-400 air defense complex at the Kapustin Yar firing range in south Russia's Astrakhan Region, and deployed a battalion of the first missile regiment equipped with the new system to protect the airspace surrounding Moscow.

The system is believed to be able to destroy stealth aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, with an effective range of up to 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) and a speed of up to 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) per second.

S-400 Triumph (Pravda.ru)

A regular S-400 battalion comprises at least eight launchers with 32 missiles and a mobile command post, according to various sources. The new state arms procurement program until 2015 stipulates the purchase of enough S-400 air defense systems to arm 18 battalions during this period.

NEWS @RIA Novosti