RAMALLAH, West Bank (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israeli occupation authorities have 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 a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
Israel launched the assault after one of the most deadly waves of Palestinian Resistance 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.
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 toward hospital.
Parents, some of them weeping, ran into the streets looking for their children as jets roared overhead.
The Israeli occupation authorities claimed that warplanes struck only military targets in Gaza and had flown overhead before the bombardment to ``distance civilians from the area.'' 
PHOTO CAPTION:
Two Palestinian police crouch as a bomb from an Israeli warplane hits a camp of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Force 17 security force in Gaza City December 4, 2001. Israeli warplanes and helicopters launched their fiercest air attacks in 14 months of conflict, firing one missile near Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's West Bank office while he was inside. (Reuters TV)