Israel launched a series of blistering airstrikes Wednesday on what it says are terrorist targets in Gaza, killing the chief of Hamas' military wing and at least eight others, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. As the tensions ratcheted up, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Wednesday evening. Palestinian leaders immediately condemned the attacks as an escalation, with President Mahmoud Abbas calling for an emergency session of the Council of the League of Arab States to discuss what he called Israeli "aggression," the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported. Hamas' military wing warned that Israelis had opened "the gates of hell on themselves" with the move.
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President Obama speaks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone
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Palestinian groups say there were 70 strikes on Wednesday
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An Israeli spokesman calls the operation defensive after rocket attacks from Gaza
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Ahmed al-Ja'abari, the head of Hamas' military wing, was killed in the first strike
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