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Gaza Strip Blast Kills Two Israelis And Wounds Nine As Israel Reacts
CAIRO (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Two Israeli settlers were killed and nine wounded in a bomb attack on an Israeli settlement in Gaza Strip early Monday.
Israeli Radio reported that the explosion targeting a bus transporting settlers from the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom. Israel has settled more than 7000 Jews in Occupied areas of Palestinian-ruled Gaza.
Israeli Television reported that the injured included military escort soldiers and BBC's correspondent in Jerusalem described the blast as the most serious attack yet on Jewish settlers in Gaza.
Three different groups claimed responsibility for the blast: the al-Aqsa Martyrs, Palestinian Hezbollah, and Omar al-Mukhtar, a Damascus-based small PLO faction.
There is no evidence on whether Palestinian Hezbollah or the al-Aqsa Martyrs have launched any previous attacks in the Occupied Territories, or whether they have any connections with other Islamic resistance groups, such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) denied any link with the blast, declaring that it would open its own investigation into the incident. The PA announcement came just 48 hours after Arafat called for an end to attacks against Israeli targets in areas under full Palestinian control
"The Palestinian Authority is not linked to the explosion in any way. The explosion has taken place in an area under Israeli security control and Israel is responsible for the security there," said a Palestinian official.
The Palestinian Authorities political wing, the Fatah, also denied any responsibility for the attack.
The leader of the Islamic group Hamas, Sheikh Ahmen Yassin, called the bus bombing a "qualitative development" in the Intifada, as it represented another move towards an armed uprising.
Palestinian resistance groups have launched several bomb attacks in Gaza and the West Bank in reaction to Israel's use of force that started after Likud leader Ariel Sharon's provocative visit of to the holy site of al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem. The clashes have claimed 250 lives, most of them Palestinian.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called for an emergency meeting with his security cabinet to issue an immediate response to the blast.
"Ehud Barak expressed deep shock at the attack in the Gaza Strip this morning and says this a most grave and serious attack," said a government statement.
Gilad Sher, Barak' s aide, told Israeli Television the emergency meeting of Barak's security Cabinet would decide on what measures are to be taken as a reaction to the blast.
Israel has blamed Fatah for the attack.
Following Barak's emergency meeting, Israel launched massive punishment raids on Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip as darkness fell on Monday.
"These operations constitute a clear message addressed to Arafat and to the Palestinian Authority after the serious attack of a strategic nature against a bus carrying children," cabinet secretary Yitzhak Herzog told Israeli radio.
Witnesses said missiles were landing at a rate of about one per minute throughout Gaza City, knocking out electricity supplies and sending panicked Palestinians screaming into the streets.
Around 25 people went to hospital suffering burns and shrapnel wounds from the bombardments by helicopter gunships and naval vessels off the coast, which also targeted Rafah near the border with Egypt and the town of Khan Yunis.
Witnesses said numerous Palestinian security buildings had been hit in Gaza City, along with Fatah headquarters, Arafat's personal guard known as Force 17, and the Palestinian satellite television station close to Arafat's office and home.
"We hold Israel responsible for this grave escalation. Israel must stop these attacks immediately in order that the situation does not deteriorate into a situation that no one can control," top Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
The blast comes while Palestinian and Israeli leaders are trying to halt Israeli aggression and violence described by the London-based Amnesty International human rights organization as war crimes.
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