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June 9, 2002
Terrorists kill three in Karmei Tzur infiltration
MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Terrorists killed three people and wounded five more yesterday morning in an infiltration of the Gush Etzion community of Karmei Tzur.
Yael and Eyal Sorek, both in their early twenties, were gunned down outside their mobile home in the Tzur Shalem neighborhood of the community; Yael was nine months pregnant.
Also killed was St.-Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Shalom Mordechai, 35, of Nahariya, who died of his wounds at Hadassah-University Hospital in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem shortly after the attack.
Karmei Tzur residents David Turgeman and Sariel Levy, and three other soldiers, were also wounded in the attack. They were taken to the hospital for treatment, where their conditions were described as good.
One of the terrorists was killed and the second, who fled toward nearby Halhoul, was wounded, both by reservists's fire.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israeli security officials said last night the lack of a condemnation of the attack by the Palestinian Authority makes terrorists view settlers and soldiers as legitimate targets.
Around 2:20 a.m. yesterday, soldiers guarding the community spotted the terrorists, who reached the neighborhood in the southern part of the settlement from the nearby wadi. The soldiers and the terrorists exchanged fire. The two men then split up and fired at residents and soldiers, killing the Soreks.
Bullets also penetrated the surrounding mobile homes, but none of the residents who live there was wounded.
Reservists deployed nearby reached the site within minutes and engaged the terrorists, shooting one dead. By 2:30, the gun battle subsided.
The dead terrorist wore an IDF flak jacket and pants, and was armed with an M-16, grenades, hundreds of bullets, a hatchet, and a knife.
Security forces who searched the area found a bloody shirt and a Kalashnikov rifle in the wadi that were thrown away by the second terrorist as he fled the area. They immediately imposed a closure on Halhoul and conducted house-to-house searches for the terrorist. In the afternoon a number of Palestinian suspects were detained for questioning.
Speaking to reporters at the site, Judea Division commander Brig.-Gen. Amos Ben-Avraham praised the reservists' response, while noting that the actions of the soldiers who first spotted the terrorists were unsatisfactory. The recent recruits were not prepared for such an event, Ben-Avraham said: 'They did all they could, but the results are far from satisfactory.'
Ben-Avraham suggested the soldiers may have hesitated because at least one of the terrorists wore IDF clothing, and announced an investigation into the incident had been opened.
He also said there are not enough skilled soldiers to defend all areas.
Army officials said a fence would not have deterred the terrorists from attacking the open neighborhood. The only fences that offer sufficient warning, sources said, are the electronic fences that have been erected around some of the communities in the Gaza Strip.
Tzur Shalom was inhabited after Karmei Tzur resident Dr. Shmuel Gillis was gunned down and murdered 18 months ago as he was returning home. Eleven families live in mobile homes at the site, which is considered a sought after area because of the panoramic views.
Karmei Tzur resident Esty Uliel said the Soreks moved to the community 10 months ago. She said Yael was a mathematics student who studied at a religious college in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, and her husband, Eyal, was a combat soldier who was due to be discharged in a week.
'[Eyal] told their neighbors how happy he was, as it meant he could be with his wife for the birth of their child that they were waiting so eagerly for,' Uliel said.
Residents who live in the new neighborhood were evacuated and have moved in to stay with other residents in the community Uliel added.
The Soreks are to be buried this morning at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.
In Memoriam
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