Hamas vows vengeance

last updated 8 January 2015

Gaza City

An Israeli missile attack on a Gaza apartment building this week killed 15 people and brought a wave of international condemnation. The strike killed its intended target, Hamas military leader Sheikh Salah Shehada, who masterminded scores of deadly bombings in Israel. But it also claimed the lives of nine children and wounded more than 100 people, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called it “a massacre.” Just hours before the missile strike, Hamas had offered—for the first time—to consider stopping suicide bombings if Israel withdrew from the territories. After Shehada’s death, though, the Islamic militant group said it would retaliate against “all Israelis.”