2 gunmen die, 5 soldiers wounded in Hamas attack

[Englander]

By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Reuters

At least two Palestinian gunmen were killed and five IDF soldiers wounded in the pre-dawn hours Sunday, when Hamas and other armed groups attacked an army post within Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip and the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Hours after the raid, IDF tanks and troops entered the Strip near the site of the attack, an army position near the Kerem Shalom crossing. Military sources said the incursion was part of a manhunt for the remaining gunmen.

Izz a Din al Qassam, the Hamas armed wing, said it helped carry out the raid, which also involved the People's Resistance Committees (PRC), and a largely unknown group called the Islamic Army.

Following the attack, the IDF advised Palestinian security units to evacuate the Philadelphi Route along Gaza's southern border with Egypt in the Rafah area, saying Israeli military units were to enter.

The IDF General Staff convened for consultations after the attack, and army chief Dan Halutz was expected to recommend that the government order a "severe response."

More at;
Haaretz

[Scurrilous]

1. Olmert blames PA 'with all that implies' for Hamas attack

<snip>

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday he holds the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas-ruled government responsible "with all that implies" for what he called the "very grave Hamas terrorst attack" on an Israeli military outpost in the pre-dawn hours.

Olmert did not expand on his statement, but other cabinet ministers have hinted that senior figures in Hamas may be targeted for assassination, among them PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Justice Minister Haim Ramon was quoted by Army Radio as saying Sunday that "Israel will wipe out all those who are involved in terrorism. Their organizatiional affiliation will not protect them."

According to Olmert, "incident that took place in the Kerem Shalom area was a very grave Hamas terrorist attack."

"We in the state of Israel view the Palestinian Authority, headed by chairman Abu Mazen and the Palestinian government, responsible for this incident, with all that implies," Olmert said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, referring to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/731064.html

[Violet_Crumble]

2. Attacking a military target isn't terrorism...

And if Olmert insists that an attack on a military outpost is a terrorist attack, then things like targetting senior Hamas figures would also be a terrorist attack...

[eyl]

4. Probably not

but it is an attack openly carried out by the forces of the government of the PA.

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Change it to definately not and we're in agreement...

I do agree that it was an attack openly carried out by the forces of the government of the PA, but the forces of the government of Israel have also carried out many attacks. At least with this one, there were no civilians caught in the crossfire or deliberately targetted....

[eyl]

9. Not exactly my point

We keep hearing about how Hamas is "keeping a ceasefire" and therefore can't be held responsible for attacks by other organizations, and (more to the point) that Israel is therefore unjustified in taking any steps against it. Well, this attack was carried out (in part) by Hamas, not through any cutout, proxy, or ally.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. And the ceasefire's over...

I'm just not seeing an issue with this, eyl...

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Nope. Not terrorism...an act of war!

I guess this means that Israel and the PA are offcially "at war."

[Scurrilous]

3. Militants: Strike was revenge for Abu Samhadana, civilian deaths

<snip>

"The Palestinian armed groups who took part in a pre-dawn strike on an Israel Defense Forces post Sunday said the attack was in response to the Israeli assassination earlier this month of a militant leader and for Israel Air Force strikes aimed at militants firing rockets from Gaza.

Jamal Abu Samhadana, the head of the Popular Resistance Committees, was killed in a strike on a training camp in Gaza. At least 14 Palestinian civilians, many of them children, have been killed in IAF strikes targeting militants firing Qassam rockets.

"It is earthquake reaction to the massacre of civilians," said a joint statement from Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), two militant groups that claimed responsibility for the attack."

<snip>

"IAF strikes in response to the daily Qassam rocket attacks on Sderot and other areas of the western Negev have killed 20 Palestinians in the past two weeks, 14 of them civilians.

Hamas ended a 16-month-old truce with Israel on June 9 after seven members of the same Palestinian family were killed on a Gaza beach during a day of heavy Israeli shelling. Hamas has blamed Israel for those deaths. Israel has denied all responsibility and has ruled out shelling as the cause of the deaths."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/731106.html

[eyl]

5. I doubt it

while revenge may make a good pretext*, I suspect the intent is more subtle.

Hamas has an interest in stirring things up. They object to the referandum on the prisoners' document. This attack, and even more so, the kidnapping that accompanied it, will almost certainly cause a harsh Israeli response (unless he's swiftly and safely returned). That will probably cause a backlash which may cause the referandum to fail, with the blame falling on Israel.

It may also be intended to derail support for any Israeli withdrawals. This attack reportedly used a lot of heavy weaponry. It's almost certain that weaponry was smuggled into Gaza during that period after the withdrawal. So Israeli opponents to withdrawals can point out that withdrawal just leads to higher levels of attacks (rather than just an increased quantity, as is the case with the Qassams).



*BTW, if Hamas considers Samahadana's death worthy of revenge, then given that he was quite involved with attacks against Israel when he was killed, that puts a dent in Hamas' pious refrain about their so-called "cease-fire"

[Scurrilous]

7. More:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3267360,00.html

<snip>

"The Popular Resistance Committees organization is mainly behind the attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing.

London-based Arabic al-Hayat newspaper reported that the organization's commander, Jamal Abu Samhadana, assassinated two weeks ago in an Israeli aerial attack, personally planned the operation.

According to the report, members of the organization decided to put into action Abu Samhadana's plan as revenge for his assassination, and for the killing of the Popular Front's military wing commander."


And...

Analysis: Kerem Shalom attack sidelines convergence plan

<snip>

"The political outcome of Hamas' raid on Israelis at Kerem Shalom on Sunday is that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's convergence plan is being set aside for now.

Three elements have foiled Olmert's scheme. First, the government and the Israel Defense Forces failed to formulate a convincing security response to the continued attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip. Under such conditions it is impossible to convince the public that there is logic in a pullout from the West Bank, which will bring the Hamas militants closer to Israel's population centers.

Recent surveys have showed broad public opposition to the convergence. The demographic threat at the root of the plan sounds frightening, but it is still distant and not palpable. The Qassams and the Hamas are nearby and obvious to everyone.

A massive ground offensive, with which the government threatened the Palestinian Authority on Sunday, will only justify the claims of Benjamin Netanyahu and the right that Israel is unable to defend itself against Palestinian terrorism from within its borders, and consequently the country must hold on to the territories."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/731164.html