Gaza shattered by ferocious land, sea and air strikes

Less than 48 hours after Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, vowed to pound the Palestinians into submission by giving them a "bad beating", the Israeli armed forces set about the task in the Gaza Strip yesterday.

The 1.1 million Arabs crammed into the 28-mile long coastal region have frequently been bombed and raided since Mr Sharon took office exactly one year ago but the latest assaults were among the worst.

Yesterday, Gazans ranging from the Palestinian Authority's security chiefs – men once flattered by Washington, groomed by the CIA and cultivated as fellow-negotiators by Israel – to dirt-poor police on the street were assessing the damage of attacks from land, sea and air.