Posted on 11/23/2002 3:55:30 PM PST by rickmichaels
Palestinian militants on an explosives-packed boat blew themselves up when intercepted by an Israeli navy patrol off the Gaza Strip today, wounding four Israeli soldiers, the army and Palestinians said.
The Israeli military closed the Mediterranean waters off Gaza, barring all Palestinian fishing after the attack, defence officials said. The radical group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the blast, saying its two members on the boat, who died, were ‘‘suicide attackers.’’
The rare seaborn suicide attack came a day after Israeli forces reoccupied the West Bank town of Bethlehem in retaliation after a Palestinian blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus Friday, killing 11 people, four of them children.
As Israeli jeeps patrolled Bethlehem, enforcing a curfew today, troops in nearby villages blew up the homes of three activists from militias linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction.
In the northern West Bank, the United Nations prepared to investigate the death of a UN aid worker, who was fatally shot during a battle between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in the Jenin refugee camp on Friday.
Iain Hook, 50, a senior manager for UNWRA, an agency helping Palestinian refugees, was shot as he tried to evacuate a UN compound during the fierce clashes. UN officials accused Israel of preventing ambulances from quickly reaching Hook, a claim the Israeli military denied.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said Israel was ‘‘fully responsible’’ for Hook’s death and expressed Arafat’s condolences to Britain and Hook’s family.
UN spokesman Sami Mshasha said UN investigators were expected to arrive in Jenin later in the day, and that Hook’s body would be taken to Jerusalem for an autopsy in the evening.
Today’s attack took place when an Israeli patrol boat approached a Palestinian boat that had entered Israeli-controlled waters off northern Gaza, an army statement said.
When the two people on the boat refused calls to turn around, the troops sprayed them with water and fired warning shots in the air, the army said. The boat then exploded, wounding three soldiers moderately and a fourth slightly, the army said.
Islamic Jihad said its boat full of explosives rammed the Israeli patrol boat, sinking it, and that an Israeli rescue boat retrieved the four casualties. The army said the patrol boat was damaged but made it back to shore.
In a statement released in Beirut, Islamic Jihad’s military branch the Al-Quds Brigades identified its militants on the boat as Jamal Ali Ismail, 21, from al-Breij, and Mohammed Samih al-Masri, 19, from Beit Hanoun.
With the incursion in Bethlehem, Israel has retaken control of all Palestinian population centres in the West Bank except Jericho - mirroring the massive deployment that capped military offensives in April and June.
Israel says it is hunting for 30 wanted militants in and around Bethlehem and seeks to destroy what it calls an infrastructure for recruiting and preparing suicide bombers in the city. So far 22 Palestinians have been arrested since Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers moved into the city at dawn on Friday.
In al-Khader village near Bethlehem, soldiers on Saturday levelled the house of Walid Sbeh, a militant killed by Israeli troops in June, and destroyed the home of Atef Abayat, who died in October 2001 in a car bomb that Palestinians blamed on Israel.
In Tokoa, to the south, troops demolished the house of Riyad al-Amur, an activist arrested by Israel several months ago. His wife and four children were removed from the house just before the explosion.
A "HOLD MUY THROTTLE" alert is required for this post!
Uh, no... they were 'chum.' What were their names... Khalid Rapala al-Bludbait, and Muhammad bin-Jominnow?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.