AZA, Oct. 20 — Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships struck Gaza five times Monday, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 90, Palestinian hospital authorities said, as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon affirmed Israel's threat to remove Yasir Arafat.

Sirens wailed through Gaza City late Monday night while Israeli fighter jets continued to tear through the darkness overhead, after one of the most intensive, lethal air barrages of the conflict, now more than three years old.

The deadliest attack of the day came after dark, south of here in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli helicopters had fired at a car, then fired again as a crowd gathered.

Hospital officials said at least eight people had been killed and 70 had been wounded. It was not immediately clear how many of the casualties were militants and how many were bystanders. Witnesses said two of three people inside the car had been killed.

The Israeli Army said helicopters had fired several missiles at the getaway car of gunmen who fled after being spotted trying to cross the barrier that brackets Gaza against the Mediterranean Sea.

The army said two other gunmen from the same cell had been shot near the fence. It was not immediately certain if they were killed.

Residents of the camp crowded around the charred remains of the vehicle, chanting for revenge.

Mr. Sharon's pattern, first as a general and then as a politician, has been to set seemingly audacious goals, or to employ seemingly audacious tactics like the use of warplanes against Palestinian targets, and then, over time, to accustom even his sharpest critics to them.

Speaking of removing Mr. Arafat as he addressed Parliament in Jerusalem on Monday, he said: "Our policy is becoming more and more conceivable to various international bodies. I am convinced our policy will succeed."

Mr. Sharon, who in a newspaper interview last week appeared to rule out exiling or killing Mr. Arafat, did not explain what measures Israel might take against him.

"This man is the greatest obstacle to peace," he said. "Therefore Israel has committed to removing him from the political arena."

Some Israeli Arab legislators stalked out of the hall during the remarks, and Shimon Peres, the leader of what has been a moribund opposition, accused Mr. Sharon of squandering an opportunity for peace. "We are dealing with a nation that is fighting for its freedom, and don't take them lightly," he said of the Palestinians.

Ahmed Qurei, who as Palestinian prime minister is leading a faltering government, said Monday that the world must "wake up to this aggression." He appealed to Israel "to sit with us to negotiate for a mutual cease-fire with all seriousness."

Israel is demanding that the Palestinian Authority break up militant groups responsible for suicide bombings, saying a cease-fire would only allow the groups to rearm. Palestinian officials say there is no political support for such a move as long as Palestinians are buffeted by the Israeli military and there is no evidence of political progress.

The Bush administration has pulled back from its aggressive advocacy of a peace initiative here since a reform-minded Palestinian government collapsed on Sept. 6. Last week, an American diplomatic convoy was bombed as it passed through northern Gaza, killing three Americans and causing the United States to halt, at least temporarily, visits to Gaza and the West Bank.

The Bush administration has withdrawn for consultations its special envoy for the peace initiative, John S. Wolf, and set no date for his return. The State Department warned Americans on Monday to avoid travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

The bombardment on Monday came after Palestinian gunmen ambushed and killed three Israeli soldiers on patrol on the West Bank on Sunday night and Hamas militants fired eight crude rockets over Gaza's fenced boundary into Israel. The rockets did not cause injuries.

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