Palestinians storm Hebron jail

Protesters used a battering ram to get in

Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators have stormed a jail in the West Bank town of Hebron, freeing at least 10 prisoners.

It was the latest in a series of attacks on prisons by Palestinians, who say they fear detainees will be targeted by Israeli air strikes.

Hours earlier, protesters had unsuccessfully attempted to free prisoners from a jail in Gaza City after Israeli helicopters and jets fired missiles at the town's main security compound.

The blasts shook the centre of Gaza

The latest round of Israeli attacks were criticised by the US, its first reprimand of its close ally in recent weeks. A State Department spokesman called them "counterproductive".

The BBC's Barbara Plett says guards at the Hebron prison were unable to hold the crowd of about 300 people back.

Prisoners belonging to the militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas were freed, including Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed Sidr, whom Israel tried to kill last year.

Air raids

Monday's Israeli strikes on Gaza City came in two waves, about 30 minutes apart, with attack helicopters and F-16 warplanes firing seven missiles at the Saraya security and prison compound. Guards said they had evacuated prisoners to a safer site.

Palestinian hospital officials said at least 37 people were injured in the air raids, while the loud explosions which rocked the area sent schoolchildren and other passers-by scattering in panic.

The raids followed the shooting deaths of two female soldiers

Among the buildings destroyed in the raids were the command post for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Force 17 guard, a transportation complex and a scientific unit.

Most of the injured, who included police and journalists, had gone to the scene of the first raids and were caught in the second wave of attacks.

The Israeli attacks came after Palestinians apparently tested a new type of home-made rocket on Sunday, firing it into southern Israel for the first time.

The same day also saw Palestinian gunmen kill two female soldiers and wound up to 30 others near an army base in southern Israel.

Arafat: Angry at bombing of prison buildings

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington was "seriously concerned" by recent Israeli raids, especially because their targets were close to civilian areas and also near the United Nations compound in Gaza.

Two UN workers were hurt by flying glass on Sunday night after an Israeli helicopter attacked a metal workshop in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon blames Mr Arafat for the ongoing violence in the Middle East and has held talks with senior Palestinian officials Ahmed Qorei and Mahmoud Abbas, whom he believes might be more willing to deal with the militants who attack Israelis.

But the Palestinian leader told the BBC that Mr Qorei and Mr Abbas are "my colleagues" and "in the same boat".

"[The Israelis] have to deal with the Palestinian people, who elected Yasser Arafat and who will elect after Arafat any leader, any president," he said.

Mr Arafat said he was doing all he could to control the militants.

And he flew into a rage at a question suggesting that suspects who were meant to have been in prison were still at large.

"You are repeating their big lies... they have destroyed all our prisons, and you are coming to ask me these bad questions, and wrong questions. Be fair," he snapped.