|
Dec. 12, 2004
Five soldiers killed in Gaza; Israel vows harsh response
MARGOT DUDKEVITCH and HERB KEINON
Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the Beduin Desert Battalion were killed and six more wounded when a tunnel filled with explosives blew up underneath the side of an IDF post near the Rafah terminal in the southern Gaza Strip early Sunday evening.
The identities of the five soldiers killed are Sergeant Sayid Jaja, 19, from Wadi Ara, will be laid to rest at 2:30 p. m. in his village; Sergeant Araf al-Zabarga, 20, from Kuseifa; Tarek al-Zidaina, 20, from Rahat; Hussein Abu Lile, 23, from Ein Mahil; Private Adham Samir Shehada, 19, from Turan, will be laid to rest Monday at 2:30 p. m. in his village.
Officials in Jerusalem said Israel will have to find solutions to tunnel warfare with the Palestinians.
After the explosion, two gunmen throwing grenades and firing rifles infiltrated the post, while other Palestinians fired mortar shells and directed light weapons fire at the position.
Soldiers at the post who were not wounded in the explosion opened fire, killing one of the assailants. The second fled the area, apparently toward Rafah. He fled with a soldier’s weapon, Israel Radio reported.
A government official said Israel is not going to "fall for this provocation" and initiate an offensive campaign that would torpedo the upcoming Palestinian elections or efforts by the Palestinians to stabilize the situation.
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office said that, although Israel is unlikely to launch a major military offensive following the attack, it will have "no other choice‘ but to take harsh measures against those who perpetrated it. He said Israel is likely to ’intensify" its efforts to target the heads of terrorist cells responsible for these actions.
The post, a security checkpoint for Palestinians entering the border crossing, was manned only by the 11 soldiers from the Beduin reconnaissance unit.
Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack, in honor of "the martyr Yasser Arafat, who was slain by the Zionist hand," claiming that it took four months to dig an 800 meter-long tunnel from Rafah to the crossing and that one and a half tons of explosives were placed in barrels inside the tunnel for the blast.
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office blamed Iran and its proxy, Hizbullah, for the attack, saying they have an interest in trying to ensure that no progress is made between Israel and the Palestinians.
The official said that the tunnels under Rafah are no longer used simply as conduits for weapons, but are being turned into weapons themselves, and that this is a modus operandi that can be traced to Hizbullah.
"The big losers are the Palestinian leaders who hoped they would be able to get a hudna [temporary truce] with terrorist leaders in Damascus. Instead what they get is explosive tunnels," one official said.
"We hope that Palestinians wake up and understand that these attacks — more than hurting Israel — are damaging and moving us further away from working toward normalization,‘ he said. ’We all know who is interested in scuttling any normalization: the Iranians and their proxies."
The official said that the choice of the terminal at Rafah as the target is no accident, since the terrorist groups have continuously targeted the terminals which open up Gaza either to Israel, or to the outside world through Egypt. He said the Rafah terminal was only recently opened as an attempt at normalization.
"Now the attack has scuttled this effort at normalization,‘ he said. ’We opened this terminal hoping it would ease the situation facing the Palestinians, and the response is this type of attack."
The official said the attack demonstrates that, if indeed the new Palestinian leadership wants to move forward, a hudna — or internal Palestinian cease fire — will not do the job, and that what is needed is determined action against the terrorist infrastructure by the PA itself.
"We will continue our disengagement plan according to schedule,‘ the official said. ’But if these attacks continue, it will necessitate harsher measures on our part."
Just prior to the attack, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya’alon told the cabinet that the Palestinians were having only limited success trying to arrange a hudna. Not only is there no internal Palestinian cease-fire, he said, but the Islamic groups and some Fatah elements are increasing attacks in order to torpedo any agreement with Israel.
After the explosion, troops in the area took several minutes to alert other security forces to the site, as the force of the blast hampered communications.
Extra troops deployed to the site to assist in searching the area and treating and evacuating the wounded came under heavy gunfire and mortar shell fire. Several bombs were detonated near soldiers participating in the rescue efforts. Air Force helicopters hovered overhead and flares were lit to assist the troops.
Security forces came under intense and constant Palestinian gunfire as they treated the wounded soldiers, who were evacuated to the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing and from there were airlifted or brought by ambulance to the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
Two of the soldiers were reported to be in serious condition, with three others in satisfactory condition and one only lightly wounded.
Tanks and armored personnel carriers were deployed to the area to secure soldiers who were searching the area surrounding the post, as soldiers from the Home Front Command sifted through the rubble in attempts to find the soldier who remained buried beneath the rubble. Heavy vehicles were also deployed to assist in removing the rubble.
Shortly before the attack, soldiers in the District Coordinating Office located inside the post had completed their shift and came away unscathed. The attack was also timed after Palestinian laborers had left the crossing and returned to their homes.
A Palestinian Authority police checkpoint is located near the targeted IDF post.
Shortly after Hamas and the Fatah Hawks claimed responsibility, crowds of Palestinians rejoiced in the streets of Gaza City. Both groups claimed they would release film and video footage of the attack at a later stage.
At the time of the attack, OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel and other senior IDF officers were participating in a ceremony to hand out citations and bravery awards to soldiers — including a posthumous award to the parents of Lt. Aviv Hakani, who was killed along with four other soldiers this past May while preparing to blow up a weapons tunnel fin the same area. Harel and other senior commanders left the ceremony after receiving initial reports of the attack at the Rafah crossing.
The Rafah terminal crossing was shut down during the summer several times after warnings were received of plans by terrorists to launch an attack at the site. It was reopened after security forces deemed the area safe.
Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, 13 mortar shells were fired at Israeli settlements and IDF posts. This is despite the fact that, since Friday night, troops have been deployed on the outskirts of the Khan Yunis refugee camp in an attempt to halt the mortar fire.
No one was wounded in the attacks, but a community center in one of the settlements suffered extensive damage shortly before children were scheduled to enter the building.
Palestinians reported that five schoolchildren were wounded when an IDF tank shell exploded in a schoolyard in Khan Yunis. The IDF Spokesman denied the claims, saying that no tank shells were fired at the time of the report, and that soldiers responded to the mortar attacks with light weapons fire only.
In Memoriam
------------------------------
Back to Timeline »
|
