Suffusing with smell of burnt gunpowder, the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun was turned into ruins after a bloody six-day Israeli assault against the coastal strip.

On early Wednesday, Israeli artillery shells killed 19 Palestinian civilians in Beit Hanoun, including 13 from one family.

The shelling came 24 hours after Israel announced it ended Operation Autumn Clouds in the town which had claimed lives of more than 50 Palestinian militants and civilians.

"It was a Tsunami hitting Beit Hanoun," 41-year-old police officer Ahmed Sehwail told Xinhua, adding "devastation everywhere, Beit Hanoun was turned from paradise into broken remains."

Sehwail said the town was famous for its citrus groves but after six years of intifada (uprising), little has survived.

He said that it was difficult to walk, as mud covered streets, adding the water network was destroyed. Whole infrastructure, including electricity, broke down, he added.

Abu Samir al-Basuni, a 54-year-old Beit Hanoun resident, said, "The area seemed to survive an earthquake, and remains of houses scattered around and some people could not recognize their homes."

Al-Basuni said that more than 50 houses were razed out and they (the Israelis) also ruined parts of a cemetery.

Beit Hanoun, with a population of 40,000, had been a small agricultural village and had recently become a town.

The town is the nearest area to the borders between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Israel said the operation was aimed at preventing Palestinian militants from firing homemade rockets into southern Israel but it seemed that the goal was not achieved as dozens of rockets were launched at Israeli towns and communities.

Ahmed al-Kafarna, a student, said that rocket attacks would continue even when Beit Hanoun was gripped by Israel. "We launch rockets to respond to Israeli crimes. It is a matter of action and reaction and they (the Israelis) begin with this circle."

Large tents were set up and hundreds of mourners gathered in grief but they did not show any regret over rocket attacks against Israel.

"Bomb with Qassam rocket, bomb it in the face of oppression," chanted a song through loudspeakers near one tent.

Many people expressed support to rocket attacks, shouting "we support Hamas."

Both President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haneya condemned the Israeli shelling as "awful massacre" and urged the UN Security Council to convene an urgent session to impose punishments on Israel.

In addition, senior Hamas official Nizar Rayyan in the Gaza Strip called for an immediate renewal of suicide bombing attacks in Israel to avenge the killing.

Source: Xinhua