A man cries over a dead body at the Hamas security headquarters in Gaza City on Saturday. (AP) GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes and combat helicopters rained death on the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing at least 225 people and injuring over 750. Black smoke billowed over Gaza City, where the dead and wounded lay scattered on the ground after dozens of airstrikes destroyed all security compounds of Hamas, which rules the coastal strip. Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the flagrant Israeli aggression and said it would intensify contacts to stop the attacks. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah telephoned US President George W. Bush and said big powers have a responsibility to stop the Israeli attack. The king received Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Khoraim Gardens and discussed the situation in Gaza. He ordered medical assistance for Gaza and planes to transport the injured to the Kingdom for treatment at specialized Saudi hospitals. The deadliest Israeli strike was at the Hamas police headquarters, where a graduation ceremony for cadets was taking place at the time. After the strike, the courtyard of the headquarters was littered with disfigured bodies of policemen, while survivors were rushed to the city's overwhelmed Al-Shifa Hospital. The airstrikes began around 11:30 a.m. and continued for about two hours. The first wave of airstrikes was launched by 60 warplanes, which hit a total of 50 targets. In a second wave of attacks, 20 warplanes struck another 50 targets. Among the dead were Gaza police chief Tawfiq Jabber, the head of Hamas' security and protection unit and the governor of central Gaza. As night fell more planes could be heard bombing different sites, triggering panic among Gaza's teeming population. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the operation to "obliterate Hamas will continue as long as it takes." Israel also threatened to assassinate Hamas leaders. "Anybody belonging to Hamas could be a target," army spokeswoman Avital Leibovitch said. A five-day Israeli offensive in March killed more than 120 people, but yesterday's death toll would be the highest for Palestinians since their 1980s intifada. Hamas threatened to unleash "hell" to avenge the dead. A salvo of rockets fired in the evening killed an Israeli man and wounded several others. The Arab League called a foreign ministers meeting in Cairo today to take a common position on the raids. League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters that the attacks were only the beginning. "We are facing a continuing spectacle which has been carefully planned. So we have to expect that there will be many casualties. We face a major humanitarian catastrophe," he said. Egypt denounced the air raids as "murder" and opened its Rafah border crossing with the territory to allow the wounded through for treatment. Egypt also summoned Israeli Ambassador Shalom Cohen to demand an end to the bombardment. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the European Union and Russia urged both sides to stop the violence, as Israel's strongest ally the United States said the Jewish state should avoid civilian casualties. — With input from agencies

Hisham Abu Taha Arab News