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Israel closing gaza crossings after terror attack Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Last Update: 14/01/2005 14:55
Israel closing all Gaza crossings in wake of terror attack
By Amos Harel and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Israel is closing the three checkpoints connecting the Gaza Strip to Israel and Egypt until the Palestinians take steps to fight terrorism, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and army chief Moshe Ya'alon decided Friday, the day after six Israelis were killed in a Palestinian attack at one of the checkpoints.
The Karni crossing between Israel and Gaza was shut down shortly after Thursday night's attack. The decision by Mofaz and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Ya'alon to close the other two crossings - Erez, between Gaza and Israel, and Rafah, between Gaza and Egypt - effectively isolates the Strip for an indefinite amount of time.
Five of the six Israelis killed in the attack, all of them civilians, were identified Friday. Four of the dead were employees of the Israel Ports Authority working at Karni crossing and the others were truck drivers.
Three of the dead were residents of the western Negev town of Sderot. Dror Gizri, Herzl Shlomo, 51, and Ivan Shmilov, 54, are being buried at the Sderot cemetery on Friday afternoon. The other two people killed are Munam Abu Sabia, 33, from Daboriya, and Ibrahim Kahili, 46, from Umm al-Ghanem.
Four Israelis were wounded in the attack, three seriously. The wounded were evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva.
Brig. Gen. Avi Kochavi, commander of the Gaza Division, said Friday that the amount of goods that will be allowed into Gaza will be cut drastically following the attack, but that the army would do what it could to reduce damage to innocent civilians.
"This is a central crossing through which merchandise, medicine and food are brought," Kochavi told Israel Radio. "For a reason that is not clear to us, [the terrorists] are making every effort to destroy our every attempt to allow the Palestinians, their own people, [to lead] easier lives."
Thursday night's attack began at about 10:45 P.M., when the terrorists used a very large explosive device - which experts estimate weighed more than 120 kilograms - to blast through a door that separates the Israeli and Palestinian sides at the crossing.
Palestinian gunmen then opened fire on the Israelis working at the crossing, including security guards, with mortars and light arms. The army at first said five Israelis were killed, but another body was found later.
Israel Defense Forces troops at the scene fired back, killing three Palestinian gunmen.
A short time after the attack, an Israel Air Force helicopter fired two missiles at a medical centre in Deir el Balah refugee camp run by an Islamic charity, Al Salah, with links to Hamas, witnesses said. There were no reports of casualties.
Attack may be challenge to new PA chairman
The Palestinian attack, which came just four days after the election of Mahmoud Abbas, could be seen as a challenge to the new Palestinian Authority chairman, who has often condemned suicide bombings as harmful to the Palestinian cause.
Only on Friday afternoon did Abbas condemn the Karni attack as well as IDF raids in the territories.
"These attacks and what Israel did last week by killing nine Palestinians do not benefit peace," Abbas told reporters.
Significantly, three militant groups claimed joint responsibility for the attack: Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Abbas' Fatah movement.
"The attack was a continuation of resistance," said Abu Abir of the Popular Resistance Committees in a joint claim of responsibility. It called it a response to Israel's killing of a West Bank militant and other Palestinians in recent days.
Hamas militants said they had hoped to kidnap Israeli soldiers to swap them for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Abu Abir said the attack was "further proof that the enemy will leave the Gaza Strip under fire from the strikes of the Palestinian resistance", referring to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate settlers from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank this year.
Palestinians identified one of the gunmen as Muhaned Al-Mansi, 18, from the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel and Washington have said that the first test of Abbas as a leader will be his willingness and ability to rein in terror groups. The Sharon government has set strong PA action against terror as a pre-condition for resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The Karni crossing, closed to Palestinian traffic at the hour of the attack, was relatively empty at the time. However, there is a permanent presence of Israeli civilian border authority personnel and a small IDF force permanently stationed at the crossing.
The large bomb used to demolish the dividing wall between the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the crossing was apparently smuggled into Karni in a vehicle.
The Karni crossing has been the target of dozens of attacks since the start of the intifada in September 2000.
In March 2004, Hamas and Fatah managed to smuggle two militants through the crossing, and they carried out a suicide bombing in the Ashdod port. The militants managed to pass through Karni inside a container, with the assistance of a senior officer in the Palestinian Preventive Security organization, who was in charge of security on the Palestinian side. Ten Israeli civilians were killed in that attack.
Hamas has been particularly eager to target crossings like Karni because of the relative ease with which Palestinians can approach them and the near-constant presence of Israelis there, and also because they can disrupt the economic link between the PA and Israel.
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