|
 The brazen daylight raid in southern Israel threatened to set off a new round of fighting in Gaza after a monthlong lull and could jeopardize recently renewed peace efforts.
Three smaller militant factions claimed they carried out the attack, but the Israeli government held Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible. It sent tanks, troops and aircraft into the Palestinian territory after the raid, killing at least eight Palestinians, including three civilians. And it warned that more reprisals could be coming.
"We will chose the time and the place to respond. The blame lies on Hamas as the responsible authority there," Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defense minister, told Israel's Army Radio.
The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, which took part in the attack, called the raid, which was carried out under cover of mortar fire, a "unique and complicated operation."
Abu Ahmed of Islamic Jihad said the attack was intended to target the fuel depot on which Gazans depend.
The fuel "is dipped in humiliation," he said, because people wait for it for hours. "If their fuel means humiliation for us, we don't want it."
Maj. Tal Levram, an Israeli army spokesman, said the militants apparently were planning to carry out a broader attack on a neighboring Israeli village or to kidnap soldiers, but were thwarted by the arrival of Israeli troops.
Palestinian militants frequently attack the Israeli border, but they rarely succeed in getting through. In another daring daytime raid in June 2006, militants tunneled into Israel, killed two soldiers and captured a third. The soldier, Cpl. Gilad Schalit, remains in captivity in Gaza.
Wednesday's attack upset more than a month of calm following a broad Israeli military offensive that killed more than 120 Gazans, including dozens of civilians. Since the offensive ended in early March, Egypt has been trying to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, and the sides appear to have been honoring an informal truce.
Israel sealed its borders with Gaza after the Islamic militant group seized control of the territory in June, and has reduced the flow of fuel, electricity and basic goods. The sanctions have hit hard and Hamas threatened on Tuesday to blow up Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt to relieve the strain.
Israel has taken the threat seriously because Hamas breached the Egyptian border in January, allowing tens of thousands of people to pour into Egypt for more than a week before the border was resealed.
[to top of second column]
 |
 On Thursday, an Israeli think tank reported that Hamas' military buildup is at its peak, despite the international blockade on Gaza.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center said the Islamic militant Hamas group has organized 20,000 armed forces and acquired longer-range rockets and advanced anti-tank weapons.
It also said Iran and Syria supply Hamas with weapons, technical know-how and training. The major points of the report were not new, but were significant because of the center's close links to Israel's defense establishment. Some of the material in the report was based on data from the Shin Bet security agency.
Israel stopped pumping gas on Thursday and at least two Israeli ministers said Israel should cut it off permanently following the attack. However, officials said the flow would be renewed shortly to avert a humanitarian crisis.
Gazans received fuel supplies on Wednesday before the attack.
The infiltration also serves as a reminder that Israel, which is conducting peace talks with the rival Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas, will not be able to implement a deal as long as Hamas rules Gaza. Hamas is not a party to those talks.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said the raid would not disrupt peace talks. The two sides hope to reach a final peace deal by the end of the year.
"We decided that we will continue to talk and will not let terrorists have a veto voice on the talks with the pragmatic forces," Mekel said.
[Associated
Press; By ARON HELLER]
Copyright 2008 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
