Posted on 06/08/2003 6:14:50 AM PDT by Israel Insider
Four Israeli soldiers were killed and four others were wounded when three terrorists attacked an IDF post at the Erez Crossing in the northern Gaza Strip early Sunday morning. The terrorists, wearing IDF uniforms, approached the outpost in the fog and opened fire and threw grenades. Soldiers fired back and after a fierce gunfight, killed the terrorists.
The terrorists arrived at the Erez industrial area shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday morning with a group of Palestinian workers who were waiting to cross into Israel. The terrorists separated themselves from the workers, scaled a wall and then infiltrated into the army post. Ynet reported that the terrorists were armed with Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and masking tape, possibly signalling their intentions to kidnap soldiers.
Shortly after the terror attack, Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the Erez, Karni and Rafiah crossings in the Gaza Strip closed.
The injured soldiers were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. One of the reservists said he had just finished a night shift and gone to sleep when he heard gunfire. "We didn't understand what was happening. I opened the door and a bullet hit me in the hand. Shrapnel or a second bullet hit another soldier in the leg. We got dressed quickly, grabbed our weapons and ran to our posts... There was a very thick fog and we couldn't see exactly what was happening," he told ynet.
Hizballah's Al-Manar television station reported that the attack was a joint effort of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Bridgade. "This joint operation was committed to confirm our people's united choice of holy war and resistance until the end of occupation over our land and holy places," a leaflet said, giving the names of the terrorists.
Senior security officials said the attack was the first coordinated effort between the three terror groups. At least one of the terrorists was a former employee at the Erez industrial zone.
Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim told Army Radio that despite agreements reached at the Akaba summit, the Palestinian Authority was doing nothing to prevent terror attacks. "We can hear the results - eight wounded, four of them very seriously. We have to be aware that this process if full of difficulties. Without guarantees for the safety of Israeli citizens, there can be no progress in the process."
Senior diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said the attack was very serious and could upset the diplomatic process that had just started, Israel Radio reported.
Overnight, the IDF re-imposed a full closure on the West Bank due to the unprecedented number of intelligence warnings of impending terror attacks. The closure was lifted last week as part of Israel's gestures to the Palestinians ahead of the Akaba summit.
Overnight, IDF forces killed an armed Palestinian who took cover in an abandoned house near the Kissufim Crossing in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian had opened fire at troops who then surrounded the house and engaged him in a gunfight until he was killed.
BTW, welcome back TLB :]
There was another post before this...
If this was a setup by Bush like the ultimatum to Saddam
then he better be formulating the roadmap to war
otherwise the war on terror will be a joke.
I wonder if this is an ominous development or a sign that they have been forced to pool their resources.
In this recent undated image released by the Islamic militant group Hamas Sunday June 8, 2003, the three gunmen that carried an attack early Sunday at an Israeli army outpost in the Erez crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, pose dressed in military fatigues in an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip. The three Palestinians, disguised as Israeli soldiers, sneaked into the army post Sunday and killed four soldiers before being killed by troops. The book they are holding is unknown.(AP Photo/HO)
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