Israel pounds Gaza with missiles

Three children have been reported injured in eastern Gaza City after Israeli aircraft carried out a series of missile attacks across the Palestinian territory. Palestinian hospital officials said the children were injured by flying debris after the air raids that came in the early hours of Friday. Witnesses and Hamas officials said that Israeli missiles hit two caravans near the town of Khan Younis and a cheese factory, while helicopters attacked a metal foundry in the Nusseirat refugee camp. Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, told Al Jazeera that Hamas held the Israeli government led by Binyamin Netanyahu responsible for the "escalation". He also blamed "the international community and the Arabs" for failing "to do anything about the situation in Gaza". "The absence of the international community and the Arabs has allowed the Israelis to escalate the situation," he said.