Well-informed Palestinian official sources revealed that President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haneya held a meeting at predawn on Sunday following an Israeli airstrike on the latter's office.

The meeting was held at Abbas' home in Gaza City after Israeli helicopters targeted Haneya's office, said the sources, without giving other details.

Israeli Apache attack helicopters fired at least one missile at the office of Haneya, who is also a senior Hamas leader, in the Remal neighborhood in southern Gaza City.

The missile set the building ablaze, causing severe damage. Palestinian sources said that the building was empty at the time of the air raid.

Haneya condemned the Israeli airstrikes on his office, terming the airstrike as "revelry, barbaric and rowdy."

Right after his office was bombarded, Haneya, who rarely showed up in Gaza following the Israeli threats to target him, visited the destroyed office before he met with Abbas.

An Israeli army spokesman told the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television that the airstrike on Haneya's office was a message to Haneya that if the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit was not freed, Israeli military actions would escalate.

The Israeli air forces continued its "Summer Rains" operation for the fifth consecutive days on different targets in the Gaza Strip, where warplanes destroyed the sole power plant in Gaza.

Source: Xinhua