RAMALLAH, Dec 4: Israeli warplanes and helicopters launched their fiercest air attacks in 14 months of conflict on Tuesday, firing one missile near Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s West Bank office while he was inside.

Arafat was not hurt, but a 15-year-old bystander and a policeman were killed in Gaza and dozens were wounded in the largest simultaneous air attacks since the start of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

Israel launched the assault after one of the most deadly waves of suicide bombings inside the Jewish state in years. Israel has directed its fire mainly at security targets or symbols of Arafat’s power but has not aimed at him.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell waved a flag of caution at Israel, saying it should be aware of the consequences of any action, but stopped short of urging it to stop the attacks.

Frightened schoolchildren scurried for cover as clouds of black smoke billowed and shrapnel flew in Gaza. Panic-stricken Palestinians pitched several wounded children and their school backpacks into ambulances that screamed away towards hospital.

Parents, some of them weeping, ran into the streets looking for their children as jets roared overhead.

The Israeli army said warplanes struck only military targets in Gaza and had flown overhead before the bombardment to “distance civilians from the area”.

Making his first public comments since the Israeli offensive began on Monday, Arafat hit back at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in an interview in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Arafat told CNN television: “He doesn’t want a peace process to start.”

Sharon’s cabinet branded Arafat’s Palestinian Authority a “terror-supporting entity”, using language similar to Washington’s when it targeted the Taliban in response to the Sept 11 attacks.

The cabinet’s decision early on Tuesday to issue the declaration and intensify attacks prompted a walkout by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ Labour Party, widening cracks in Sharon’s broad coalition.—Reuters