Whatever, in future years, when it all likelihood Israel is attacked by surface to surface missiles, possibly carrying biological, chemical or nuclear weapons of mass destruction, it will be important to remember that it was the Israelis themselves who pioneered the use of these weapons in the region.

SUDANIA, Gaza Strip (Reuters- 10 April) - Israel fired missiles into the headquarters of Palestinian naval police and another police intelligence office in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing one officer and wounding 17, Palestinian police said,

The Israeli Army said the two surface-to-surface missile strikes were retaliation for mortar bombs fired at Jewish settlements in Gaza, including one earlier Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed no letup in efforts to stamp out Palestinian attacks while a top aide of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called for international intervention to protect his people.

The result of Tuesday actions in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip was to widen further the gulf between Sharon and Arafat and dash hopes of getting the two sides to at least discuss security issues, if not peace talks.

The missiles struck within 15 miles of each other in mid-morning.

Wael Khweitar, 27, a lieutenant who was also a doctor, died in the attack on the naval police headquarters at Sudania, on a coastal road which leads to the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, hospital sources said.

They said seven police officers were wounded.

"I saw the missile flying from the eastern direction and strike the administration department. I couldn't escape right away and I thought the entire place was being shaken under my feet," one Palestinian officer said.

The second strike was on the refugee camp of Deir al-Balah, where a missile slammed into the second floor of a police intelligence headquarters, wounding 10 people.

At least three rooms were set on fire and offices were heavily damaged. Police said they suspected the missile had been fired from the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement.

At the naval police headquarters, outer walls were blown out, two vehicles were destroyed and fires broke out.

"The missiles came from the direction of the east, probably Erez or a (Jewish) settlement near Erez," a witness said.

A grim-faced Major General Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh, Palestinian Public Security Chief in Gaza, surveying the damage, said there was a "state of war" in progress.

The Israeli army said it had acted because attacks on Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, "are becoming routine."

An army spokeswoman said the missile attacks were in response to the firing of three mortar bombs near the Jewish settlements of Gush Katif, one of which landed in greenhouses and one in a nearby factory. No one was hurt and the army was looking for the third mortar bomb.

"The army will not allow attacks on our citizens and on IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers and will take appropriate steps to ensure their safety," the army said in a statement.

Israel Army Radio said that minutes before the missile attacks Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had visited the Jewish communal farm of Nahal Oz on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza. It is about 25 miles from the targets of the attacks.

Sharon said he planned soon to activate a plan to counter the threat to Israelis from Palestinian attacks.

At least 370 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 71 other Israelis have been killed since the Palestinians began their uprising in September.

"I'll tell you one thing, we know exactly what we're doing. I have a very clear plan. That plan will be carried out and security will be restored," Sharon said.

Sharon adviser Dore Gold said Israel's actions were to bring about a long-term end to violence.

"We are not talking about tit-for-tat, they strike and we strike and we get into this perpetual ping-pong. What we are speaking about is something else -- a long-term Israeli effort to bring about an end to this violence."

But top Arafat aide Tayeb Abdel-Rahim told reporters while visiting the wounded that Israel's action was destroying all goodwill between the two sides.

"We are all targeted by Israel as people and as a Palestinian authority," he said. "We urge the International community to immediately afford protection to our people."

The Gaza Strip, 25 miles long and as narrow as four miles wide is home to around a million Palestinians, most of them refugees who fled from areas of what is now Israel at the creation of the Jewish state in 1948.

Jewish settlements inhabited by only about 7,000 Israeli civilians occupy around 40 percent of the strip's land area, using it mostly for agriculture.