Medical sources reported that at least 205 Palestinians have been martyred and over 400 injured, 120 of them suffering serious wounds, in a series of Israeli occupation Air Force strikes on the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
Earlier, Gaza health official Moawiya Hassanain confirmed the report, saying 160 Palestinians have been killed in the airstrikes and the number of the martys is expected to rise.
Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip will continue for "as long as necessary," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. "The operation will go on and be intensified as long as necessary," Barak said at a televised news conference.
Earlier, Israeli military spokesman Avi Benayahu told army radio that the massive Israeli bombardment of Gaza was "only just the beginning".
"This is only just the beginning of an operation launched after a security cabinet decision. It could take time. We have not fixed a timeline and we will act according to the situation on the ground," he said.
A series of Israeli occupation strikes targeted Hamas compounds throughout the Gaza Strip, causing widespread panic, Hamas officials said on Saturday.
Al-Manar correspondent in Gaza said that what is going on is an unprecedented massacre against the Palestinians in the Strip.
"I'm afraid we have at least 40 dead," police spokesman Islam Shahwan told Hamas radio earlier in the day on Saturday. He said a police compound in Gaza City was hosting a graduation ceremony for new personnel when it was attacked.
IAF strikes on Saturday on the police headquarters in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip killed police Chief Tawfiq Jabber, Hamas radio reported.
At least two people were killed and 30 wounded from an attack in Khan Younis, a refugee camp in the south of Gaza.
TV footage showed bodies of more than a dozen black-clad security men lying on the ground in one area. Palestinian witnesses say one of the missiles struck Hamas police headquarters in Gaza City, with at least 50 people among the casualties in the attack.
Residents reported hearing at least 15 explosions. Many of Hamas' security compounds are in residential areas, and the airstrikes took place as children were leaving school. Plumes of black smoke rose over Gaza City, sirens wailed through the streets and women frantically looked for their children.
The aggression followed a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet to widen reprisals for cross-border Palestinian rocket attacks on occupied territories.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' Damascus-based political bureau, said his resistance organization would retaliate. "We will defend our women and children by any means necessary. All the options are open," he said.
Minutes after the first wave of occupation air strikes hit areas in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians reported a second wave which targeted installations in the center and the north of the Strip. Channel 2 reported that 60 planes were involved in the attack, and nearly 100 targets were hit.
In response to the threats, Israeli sources announced that they were putting their staff on highest alert, and deploying over 200 ambulances throughout the country in the case of a Hamas counterattack. Further, the Home Front Command ordered Settlers in Sderot and the Gaza periphery to stack within reinforced saferooms as much as they can for the time being. Settlers of the western Negev communities have also received instructions from the authorities to remain in their homes and in bomb-proof rooms.
On Friday, Egyptian officials said that Egypt had begun boosting the security along its border with Gaza, in anticipation of the imminent occupation army operation within the territory, fearing an Israeli incursion would result in a breach of the border.
