Israel Launches Airstrikes Against Hamas

"GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israel launched a "crushing" retaliation Saturday against Hamas in Gaza with deadly airstrikes, troops massed at the border and a planned ground incursion after militants fired 35 rockets at Israeli towns - their first major attack since the Gaza pullout.

The escalation threatened to derail a shaky seven-month-old truce and quashed hopes that Israel's ceding the coastal strip to the Palestinians would invigorate peacemaking. Israel's reprisals drew fresh Hamas threats of vengeance. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas came under growing Israeli pressure to confront the militants."
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