Checking the aftermath of the attack. (Reuters)

GAZA, January 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Six Israelis and three Palestinians were killed at the main commercial crossing in Gaza in an attack claimed by three Palestinian resistance factions in response to “Israel’s non-stop policy of aggressions and assassinations”.

The attack took place just before 11 p.m. (2100 GMT) Thursday, January 13, at the  Karni commercial crossing where farm produce and other goods enter and leave the Gaza Strip.

Reports on the details of the attack and whether it was a bombing operation only or a carefully planned attack, using explosives and gun fire, were not clear.

According to Al-Jazeera, three Palestinian fighters used a 150-kg bomb to blow up the wall of the crossing, minutes before it was to close, then infiltrated it and engaged in a fierce fire fight with Israeli soldiers.

Fifteen people were also injured in the attack claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - affiliated with newly elected president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, along with two other resistance factions.

In a statement carried by Reuters, the Israeli army said its troops killed three Palestinian gunmen in an ensuing exchange of fire.

The statement said the men had planted a large explosive at a door separating the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the terminal, blasting a hole through which three gunmen infiltrated the Israeli side.

“As a result of the explosion and during exchanges of fire which evolved at the scene, six Israeli civilians and three Palestinians were killed,” the army said.

But according to reports on Israeli radio, the Israeli military blamed two Palestinian bombers for the attack, adding it appeared that both bombers had been killed.

Israeli Armed forces radio said, however, a strong explosion from a 150-kg charge was heard around the Karni terminal crossing as a number of Israeli forces were moving towards it.

Israeli rescue services said ambulances faced difficulty in entering the area because of an exchange of gunfire.

About 45 minutes after the attack, the gunfire subsided, Israeli radio said. There are several Israeli military installations near the crossing.

Resistance

Israeli soldiers, manning the crossing (Reuters)

In a statement sent to Al-Jazeera, Al-Aqsa Brigades said the fighters were killed “in a martyrdom operation” near the Karni crossing in southern Gaza.

“The attack was a continuation of resistance,” said Abu Abir of the Popular Resistance Committees, one of the three factions which issued a joint claim of responsibility.

The joint statement called the operation a response to Israel’s killing of a West Bank resistance fighter and other Palestinians in recent days.

Hamas also claimed responsibility for the operation.

Hamas fighters involved in the attack said they had hoped to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to swap them for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, according to Al-Jazeera.

And in an interview with Al-Jazeera, Hamas representative in Lebanon, Usama Hamdan dismissed media reports the attack was aimed at embarrassing moderate Abbas.

While congratulating the armed resistance movements for “this heroic operation”, Hamdan said, “However, I'm shocked with those who consider our anti-occupation Jihad operations as a challenge to the Palestinian cause”.

“We consider these operations as a retaliation for many Israeli crimes, a direct challenge to the Israeli occupation, and also a source of support for the Palestinian cause,” he added.

The attack came only hours after Israeli occupation forces Thursday, January 13, gunned down a Palestinian as he drove his pregnant wife to hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip and killed another in an incursion into a refugee camp.

Collective Punishment

Israel reacted to the operation with collective punishment measures.

Shortly after the blast, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a clinic in a Gaza refugee camp run by a charity, claiming the clinic was allied with resistance fighters, injuring one passerby, the army and witnesses said, according to AFP.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted by Israeli daily Ha’aretz as ordering the closure of all checkpoints with Gaza.

And Israeli Transport Minister Meir Sheetrit also said on Israel Radio Friday, January 14, the terminal would remain closed until further notice as a result of the attack.

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, on her part, called, on Army Radio, for more sweeps into the Palestinian occupied territories on claims of ending such Palestinian attacks.

“Israel must press ahead with...its own military moves in order to try to prevent the next attack.”

But she said: “We must try to strengthen Abu Mazen (Abbas) as a leader, assuming that that at some time or other he will be able take control of the terror organizations.”

Israel's military commander in Gaza said the army's incursions into Palestinian areas, in the run-up to a planned Israeli withdrawal from the area later this year, was on-going.

“Just last month, more than 40 terrorists were killed in dozens of operations in Gaza, most of them very selective attacks by our forces,” Brigadier Aviv Kochavi told Army Radio.

“The fighting will continue without announcing (this or that operation).”

Israel tries to associate Palestinian resistance of occupation and their struggle for an independent state on lands it occupies, to Washington’s so-called war on terror.