GAZA, Feb 15: Four Israeli soldiers were killed in a tank when a roadside bomb exploded next to it near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
The military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Hamas has spearheaded the 28-month-old Palestinian uprising for an independent state in Gaza and the West Bank.
Palestinian militants have blown up several Merkava-3 tanks, a symbol of the Jewish state’s military prowess, with roadside bombs in Gaza during the revolt.
Hamas said the attack was meant to avenge the killing of two militants in the same area by Israeli troops during the Eid-ul-Azha holiday.
“The Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades take responsibility for the 25-kg bomb that exploded under a Zionist tank this morning near Dugit. We confirm that our resistance and jihad will continue,” the Hamas statement said.
Palestinian witnesses said the tank burst into flames after several explosions near Dugit, situated at the northern end of the desert strip that skirts the Mediterranean Sea.
A senior Israeli official said earlier that the tank had ran over the large bomb.
Word of the casualties from the attack on the patrolling tank was held back for hours until families of the soldiers could be notified.
Thick grey smoke was seen funnelling skyward from the stricken tank as Israeli personnel pointed water hoses into its open hatch to douse the blaze.
FREQUENT ATTACKS: An army statement said militants on Friday detonated bombs close to passing Israeli armoured vehicles in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but only minor damage resulted.
“Almost every week there are incidents of our armoured vehicles going over a bomb,” a military source said.
In December, Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a Palestinian Authority compound in Gaza, killing a master militant bombmaker responsible for blowing up three Merkava tanks over the previous year, killing seven crew members.
Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war and sprinkled them with Jewish settlements.
Palestinians obtained self-rule in their cities and towns under interim peace deals a decade ago. But Israel reoccupied much of the West Bank and clamped down on Palestinian movement within Gaza last year after a wave of suicide bombings that killed scores of civilians inside Israel.
In the West Bank city of Al Khalil, Palestinian witnesses said Israeli troops reimposed a strict curfew on Saturday and bulldozers and armoured vehicles smashed about 50 fruit and vegetable stalls. The Israeli army said it was checking the report.
The army has taken punitive action including house demolitions in Al Khalil in response to the killings of 22 Israelis, including the area’s army brigade commander, in ambushes by Palestinian militants since November.
Despite the latest violence, Israeli political sources said a high-level dialogue with Palestinians on a possible ceasefire that began after right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon swept to re-election last month would resume early next week.
They said Dov Weisglass, head of the prime minister’s office, would have talks with Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad and Interior Minister Hani al-Hassan.
Mr Sharon has accused Palestinian President Yasser Arafat of orchestrating militant attacks, which he denies, and refuses to reopen formal peace talks as long as he remains in power.
Mr Arafat has come under heavy international pressure to carry out democratic reforms seen as crucial to curbing violence and advancing a US-backed “road map” to peace, and on Friday he agreed to appoint a prime minister.
But Arafat, whom US President George Bush and Sharon want to sideline, did not say who the premier would be, when the appointment would be made and how much power he would give up.—Reuters
