GAZA CITY, 26 June 2006 — A daring pre-dawn Palestinian attack on an Israeli Army post bordering the southern Gaza Strip yesterday left two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians dead and one Israeli soldier was abducted, the Israeli Army and Palestinian officials said.
The Israeli Army sent tanks and troops into the Gaza Strip in response. Military officials were quoted as saying the incursion was part of a search for the abducted soldier.
At least three other Israeli soldiers were wounded in the attack, which began when fighters from within the Gaza Strip fired an anti-tank rocket at the army outpost near the Kerem Shalom crossing. Israeli military officials said simultaneously an eight-man attack team smuggled into the military outpost through a tunnel dug under the Gaza border.
The attacking force split into three teams. One tried — and failed — to attack an armored personnel carrier in the area, one charged the post, firing at the soldiers, and one attacked a tank with grenades killing the two soldiers and wounding two others.
The attack was claimed by three Palestinian groups — Hamas, Al-Naser Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, and a new group named the Islamic Army. Sources close to the groups said that two fighters identified as Hamed El-Rantisi from Al-Naser Brigades and Mohammad Ferwan from the Islamic Army were killed in the attack. Six other fighters were back safely to their base.
Ryad Jargoun, a farmer living near Kerem Shalom crossing, told Arab News that the Israeli tanks moved about 500 meters into eastern Rafah areas at 10 a.m. local time. In addition, three Israeli helicopters opened heavy indiscriminate gunfire at Al-Shohda village which is close to the Shalom crossing, he added. “No one can move in the area, it’s more than a curfew,” he said. Directly after the attack, the Israeli Army closed Kerem Shalom crossing that the European observers use to travel to reach the Rafah crossing in a sign that the terminal will also be closed.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the assault was “a natural attack on the Israeli occupation crimes.” The abducted soldier was reportedly in stable condition, after having suffered blows to the chest and abdomen, Israeli Army radio reported. In wake of the attack, Israel closed down all border crossings and terminals with the Gaza Strip until further notice.
Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert was to convene the government’s security Cabinet and assess Israel’s response to the attack.
The attack is a major embarrassment to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been trying to get Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to end their daily rocket attacks on Israel. Abbas has also been trying to get Hamas to agree to a platform, drafted by Palestinians in Israeli jails, which among its provisions calls on Palestinians to limit attacks only in territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East War.
Unnamed officials from Abbas’ Fatah movement were quoted in the Jerusalem Post daily yesterday morning as saying the attack on the Israeli post was engineered by Hamas leader in exile Khaled Mashaal in order to thwart any possible agreement on the document.
Meanwhile Abbas condemned yesterday’s attack in a written statement to the press, saying they “contradict with the attitudes we heard over the past two days, and it is in breach of the understandings that were voiced by leaders of factions we met.”
Abbas called on the Palestinians who abducted the Israeli soldier and those who kept the remains of the other soldiers, to bring them back, warning that if they keep the soldier, Israel would harshly retaliate.
Palestinian Cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad urged the fighters holding the Israeli soldier to “keep him alive and treat him well.” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni reportedly phoned members of the international community urging them to press Abbas to remain in Gaza until the situation is resolved.
Abbas arrived in Gaza on Friday and held a series of meetings with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and representatives of factions in preparations for declaring the outcomes of inter-Palestinian talks.
The Palestinian presidency also announced it would order a quick and comprehensive investigation into the parties that participated in the attack, including the new group, which some Palestinians fear is related to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Meanwhile, Abbas appealed to the international community to intervene to prevent Israel “taking advantage of the attack by carrying out a large-scale offensive against Gaza Strip.”
— With input from agencies
