GAZA CITY, Dec 3: Israeli combat helicopters blasted the Gaza City heliport of Yasser Arafat on Monday in what the Jewish state called a clear signal to the Palestinian leader to crack down on guerillas who organized devastating suicide bombings in Israeli cities over the weekend.

Just an hour later, Israeli F-16 fighter bombers launched air raids on Palestinian security targets in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, described by Israel as a “hotbed of militants” and already under effective siege, while helicopters hit Bethlehem to the south.

Palestinian hospital officials said 17 people had been treated for shock, smoke inhalation and minor injuries suffered as they fled in panic from the explosions.

Four US-made Apache helicopters fired around 10 missiles into the heliport, destroying two of Arafat’s civilian helicopters and severely damaging his third.

Arafat was in the West Bank town of Ramallah during the strikes, which sent a huge cloud of thick black smoke over the sprawling Mediterranean city and blew out all the windows of Arafat’s nearby residence.

A fuel dump for the helicopters also exploded after being hit.

Palestinian security officers fired back at the helicopters with heavy machineguns, but caused no visible damage.

“The attacks caused a lot of damage,” Arafat’s top aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said on a Turkish television channel.

The strikes came just hours after Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived back from Washington to take the security crisis in hand, following the killing of 26 Israelis in just 12 hours late on Saturday and early on Sunday.

“This attack ... was intended to send a very clear signal: either Arafat brings justice to these people and fights terrorism, or we will have to do it,” Sharon’s spokesman Raanan Gissin said.

He did not specify what Israel would do if Arafat failed to heed the signal, although a senior army officer also said the strikes were “a clear message we are sending to Yasser Arafat that the games are over and we hold him responsible for the recent attacks”.

The Israeli army had earlier dismissed the detention of more than 100 Palestinians as a sham played out for the media. Those arrested included two leaders of Hamas, the hardline movement that claimed the weekend suicide bombings.

Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qorei accused Israel of trying to destroy the Palestinian Authority with the attacks.

“This is a new aggression, a criminal issue which is going to create new violence and an attempt to destroy the Palestinian Authority and cancel any plans for the peace process,” he said.

The Palestinian Authority called on the United States to intervene as the raids rocked Gaza City, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told Abu Dhabi television.

“I spoke to the Americans minutes after the raids started ... They said they would do their best (to stop them), but didn’t say more,” Erakat said.

“We told them we got their message and that we will do our utmost,” said Erakat, referring to President George W. Bush’s request to Yasser Arafat on Sunday to hunt down those responsible for the bombings in Israel.

US DEFENDS ISRAEL: However, as the Israeli strikes on Gaza began, the White House said “Israel has a right to defend itself”.