Gaza militants infiltrate Israeli crossing

Palestinian Hamas militants stand guard as Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh arrives for Friday prayers in Gaza June 8, 2007. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

June 9, 2007

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) -Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated into Israel at a key border crossing on Saturday, igniting a fierce gun battle in the biggest raid from the territory since an Israeli soldier was abducted a year ago.

The Israeli army confirmed the attack near the Kissufim crossing and said four to five militants had entered near the border.

The attack was carried out jointly by Islamic Jihad and a unit of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.

Militants riding in a jeep marked with U.N. insignia crashed into the crossing gate, according to Abu Ali, a spokesman for the al-Aqsa unit. Mortar bombs and rocket-propelled grenades were used to provide them with cover.

They then jumped out of the jeep and opened fire on the Israeli soldiers guarding the crossing, he said.

"The attack comes as a natural reaction to the Zionist crimes and assassinations against fighters in Gaza and the West Bank," Abu Ali said.

The cross-border attack was the biggest since Palestinian militants tunneled under the Gaza border and kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on June 25, 2006.

Gunfire and explosions could be heard in the area during the nearly three-hour-long battle as unmanned aircraft and helicopters hovered overhead.

Islamic Jihad said one of the gunmen remained in Israeli territory while the others withdrew back into Gaza.

The Israeli army said they shot one of the gunmen but had no details about his condition. An Islamic Jihad spokesman said the group believed he was killed because they lost contact with him.

An Israeli army spokesman denied Islamic Jihad assertions that militants had killed one soldier. The army spokesman said there were no reports of injuries on the Israeli side.

Saturday's daytime attack on the Kissufim crossing came after Israeli ground forces entered southern Gaza and exchanged fire with Palestinian militants there, injuring at least one of them.
Israel stepped up its military operations in Gaza last month in response to a surge in cross-border rocket attacks against Israeli towns.

In southern Gaza, at least one Hamas gunmen was wounded in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops who entered at least two small neighborhoods on the outskirts of Rafah.

Local residents said the troops, backed by tanks, conducted house to house searches and questioned men between the ages of 18 and 40. An army spokesman said several local residents were taken into custody.