Israeli warplanes destroy headquarters of Hamas chief in Gaza

Gaza/JERUSALEM, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Israeli drones and warplanes destroyed the headquarters of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City on Monday night, no injuries reported.

Eyewitnesses and security sources said Israeli drones and warplanes fired several missiles at Haniyeh's headquarters in northwestern Gaza and completely destroyed it.

They said huge explosions were heard in the neighborhood after the building was destroyed.

Meanwhile, Israeli army confirmed that its air force struck and destroyed the headquarters of Haniyeh.

"Fighter jets recently targeted the office of Haniyeh in the northern Gaza Strip neighborhood of Rimal," a military spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson said the building was used "for terror purposes by Hamas."

Israel frequently targets Hamas sites and positions in Gaza but the strike on the office of a senior Hamas official is unusual.

According to the military, jets also hit Hamas' Interior Security offices, a five-storey building in the Rimal neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip.

"The site is a prominent Hamas building and serves the organization's military wing," the army said.

Fighter jets also struck a three-storey building in the Tzabra neighborhood, which according to the military was a secret headquarters of Hamas used by its General Security forces, General Intelligence, and Military Intelligence.

Israeli warplanes and drones have been carrying out intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Monday, targeting buildings, facilities and posts in response to earlier rocket attacks on central Israel which wounded seven Israelis.

Earlier in the day, Hamas evacuated from all its buildings, compounds and facilities in fear of intensive retaliatory airstrikes from Israel on the Gaza Strip.