Israeli missile attack kills two Palestinians

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Gaza AN Israeli helicopter fired missiles yesterday into a house in a Gaza City neighbourhood known as a Palestinian militant stronghold, killing at least two people, witnesses said.

Israel launched the air raid hours after its security cabinet decided on military retaliation, including attacks on militant leaders, for a double suicide bombing that killed 10 people at an Israeli port on Sunday.

Witnesses said the helicopter fired three missiles into the building and at least four people were wounded in addition to the two dead.

Palestinian security sources said it appeared the house belonged to a family with ties to a militant group.

Israel and Palestinian militants have made clear their intention to bloody one another as much as possible so that each can claim victory after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s planned evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

“Several modes of action by the defence establishment against the terrorist organisations were decided upon,” Mr Sharon’s office said in a brief statement after the security cabinet met in Jerusalem.

Sunday’s double bombing at Ashdod port, some 15 miles north of Gaza, dealt a new blow to Israel’s sense of security because Palestinian attackers managed to sneak out of the fenced-in Gaza Strip for the first time in more than three years of conflict.

The Islamic group Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed faction of the mainstream Palestinian movement Fatah, claimed joint responsibility for the port bombing, saying it was to avenge Israel’s recent killings of militants.

Violence has mushroomed since Mr Sharon announced plans to remove Jewish settlers from Gaza as part of go-it-alone moves that would also mean the Palestinians losing swathes of land in the West Bank that they want for a state.

Israel’s security Cabinet yesterday approved an army plan to intensify targeted killings of Palestinian militants and to send more troops into the Gaza Strip for ground operations, a security official said.

Israel’s military campaign, which will last several weeks, is also meant to increase pressure on militants, particularly the Islamic militant group Hamas, ahead of a possible Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the security official said on condition of anonymity.

Both the militants and the Israeli military are trying to claim victory in the possible pullback, part of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral “disengagement” plan. Armed groups are already bragging they are forcing Israel out. Israel wants to avoid the impression it is fleeing the strip.

The Ashdod bombing shook Israel’s security establishment because of the relative ease with which the attackers got out of fenced-in Gaza and sneaked into the heavily guarded port.

The facility, which has large storage tanks of fuel and hazardous chemicals, was considered a “strategic” target, meaning an attack there could lead to hundreds, if not thousands, of casualties.

During yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, ministers approved an army plan to step up targeted killings of militants, including leaders, the security official said.