Israel admits Hamas bombmaker survived attack

A top Hamas bombmaker survived an Israeli air strike that was supposed to kill him, an Israeli Cabinet minister admitted today.

Mohammed Deif was only injured in yesterday’s helicopter attack, which killed two of his bodyguards and wounded dozens of bystanders.

The strike in Gaza City drew international criticism, including from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and sparked a domestic debate about targeting militants in civilian areas.

Seventy-eight militants and 52 bystanders have been killed in the last two years of targeted Israeli attacks, denounced by Palestinians as assassinations.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group responsible for scores of suicide attacks in Israel, said it would avenge the killings.

About 1200 (Irish time) yesterday, two missiles fired by Israeli Apache attack helicopters destroyed Deif’s green Mercedes, blowing apart two of his bodyguards.

Abu Dhabi TV, first on the scene with a camera, showed Palestinians pulling a wounded man from the wreckage.

At first, Israeli officials said they believed Deif had been killed.

But Hamas leaders insisted from the outset that Deif was alive.

Palestinian security officials later said Deif was moderately wounded.

Israeli Science Minister Matan Vilnai, a former deputy military chief of staff, today confirmed Deif was alive.

"The reports that I’m getting from our people are that he was indeed wounded, not an injury that he won’t recover from," Vilnai said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he deplored the strike and called on Israel "to halt such actions and conduct itself in a manner that is fully consistent with international humanitarian law, under which Israel has a clear responsibility to protect the lives of civilians."

Israeli opposition leader Yossi Sarid said that while there is a need to fight terror, "a proper country simply does not do these thing".

It was the latest in a string of dozens of such attacks against suspected militants, many carried out from the air, often in crowded Palestinian neighbourhoods.

On July 23, an Israeli warplane dropped a one ton bomb on the house of Hamas military leader Salah Shehadeh, killing him along with an aide and 13 civilians, including nine children.