Israeli helicopters strike Gaza strip factory

Israeli helicopters attacked a factory in the Gaza Strip early today after Palestinians blew up an Israeli tank and killed two soldiers.

Reflecting a rapidly deteriorating situation, Israel’s defence minister said the Gaza part of a plan to ease tensions would not be implemented because of the repeated Palestinian attacks.

The helicopter strike on the metal workshop in Khan Younis just after midnight was the first of its kind since both sides agreed on August 18 to begin easing tensions by returning control of the West Bank town of Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians.

Israeli forces withdrew from Bethlehem on August 20, but there has been no movement in Gaza, and each side blames the other.

And in Jerusalem, police said they would destroy the homes of four Jerusalem Palestinians suspected in deadly bombings, a measure the Israelis say can deter other Palestinians from carrying out attacks.

Palestinians denounce the measure as collective punishment.

Israel said the Gaza factory was used to produce weapons. There were no casualties in the air strike, hospital officials said.

Before dawn, Israeli forces moved deeper into Gaza and cut the main road connecting the segments of the densely populated strip of coastal land, reimposing travel restrictions lifted just a few days earlier.

The army said troops moved in "to prevent the transfer of weapons for terrorism through the Gaza Strip".

Addressing a meeting of his Labour Party, Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel would not carry out the handover of Gaza to Palestinian security.

This followed two attacks yesterday in Gaza in which two soldiers were killed and an Israeli tank was blown up by a huge bomb.

Ben-Eliezer’s spokesman said the Palestinians have taken no steps to stop terror attacks.

"Israel will take action to withdraw only if the Palestinians will take action," he said.

Palestinians charge that Israel is stalling instead of implementing the accord, the first security understanding between the two sides in several months.

Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian militants in the West Bank town of Jenin today, residents said.

One belonged to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia affiliated with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, and the other was a Hamas member, they said.

And Israeli police and soldiers were meanwhile stepping up security for the beginning of the two-day Jewish New Year holiday, beginning today at sunset.

Police and volunteers yesterday foiled an attempt to plant a car bomb with 1,300lb of explosives in an Israeli city, a mega-attack that Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said would have changed the Middle East equation in an instant.