Palestinians Kill Six Israeli Soldiers

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian militants blew up an Israeli armored personnel carrier Tuesday, killing six Israeli soldiers in one of the fiercest battles in Gaza City in recent months. Five Palestinians were killed and 88 wounded in the fighting.

For more than 12 hours, explosions and machine gun fire from tanks and helicopters were heard across Gaza City, and white smoke rose into the air.

The death of six soldiers – the highest casualty count in a single army operation in nearly two years – was expected to increase public pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip. Sharon is pushing for a withdrawal, but the plan was vetoed by his Likud Party in a referendum last week.

Hours after the bombing, Sharon called an emergency meeting of his inner Cabinet in response to the killings, government officials said. The inner Cabinet is usually convened to approve military reprisals for the killing of Israelis by Palestinian militants.

Israeli media said the armored personnel carrier exploded when it drove over a massive bomb weighing about 220 pounds. Hamas gunmen displayed pieces of metal and bits of flesh they said they collected at the scene of the blast. Two masked men on a motorcycle held up a bloodied burlap sack with remains.

After several hours of fierce fighting, Israeli troops secured the scene of the explosion to collect remains of the dead soldiers. The damaged vehicle, with one of its tracks blown off, was driven away on a tank carrier.

The army said it entered the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City in search of weapons workshops. Shortly after midnight, three dozen Israeli tanks and several bulldozers rumbled into Zeitoun, exchanging fire with masked Palestinian gunmen.

Soldiers took over several high-rise buildings, blasting open doors and setting up sniper positions on rooftops. Attack helicopters fired machine guns and at least two missiles toward gunmen masked, while tanks fired machine gun rounds and one shell.

Palestinian gunmen planted mines and fired automatic rifles and homemade anti-tank shells during the intense fighting. In one incident, gunmen surrounded by children and teens set up a grenade launcher in an unpaved alley, waiting for a target.

At around 6:30 a.m. local time, the armored personnel carrier and a bulldozer drove over explosives, setting of a powerful blast, according to witnesses.

Hamas said in a statement faxed to news agencies that it had killed several soldiers in the explosion of the armored personnel carrier. The group said it filmed the incident. However, the footage released by the group was blurred and did not show a blast.

“Israel’s incursion into Gaza this morning proves that Sharon has fallen into a trap and he doesn’t know how to get out of it,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, referring to Sharon’s failure to win approval for a Gaza withdrawal from his Likud Party.

Hundreds of gunmen participated in the fighting. The army blocked the main north-south road in Gaza, apparently to prevent more armed men from reaching the scene.

Residents said one metal workshop and toy factory was damaged.

In all, five Palestinians were killed in the fighting, including at least three gunmen and an 18-year-old whose head was blown off. Eighty-eight Palestinians were wounded, including 14 who were in critical condition. Among the critically wounded was an 11-year-old boy on life support. Seven of the wounded had lost limbs.

The Zeitoun neighborhood, near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, is known as a stronghold of Islamic militant groups.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia accused the Israeli military of trying to sabotage all peace hopes. “Each time there is hope for peace and for the resumption of the peace talks, Israel insists on going into places and escalating the situation,” he said.

Israeli forces frequently enter cities and towns in the Gaza Strip, trying to arrest or kill members of militant groups and destroy workshops where weapons, including crude mortars and rockets, are made. Israel says it has to act since Palestinian security forces are doing little to rein in militants.

Tuesday’s military operation came a week after Palestinian gunmen killed a pregnant Jewish settler and her four daughters in a shooting attack in Gaza.

In another part of Gaza, several Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered the Rafah refugee camp Tuesday and tore down a structure, residents said. Israeli forces often enter the camp, looking for tunnels used to smuggle arms from Egypt.

On Monday, the Palestinian Authority decided to hold its first-ever municipal elections, dropping a key demand that Israeli forces withdraw from its cities and towns first.

However, Qureia said general elections could not be held until the Israelis pull back. He said a June target date was unrealistic and called on the “Quartet” of Mideast mediators to set a new date.

That appeared to be an attempt to motivate the Quartet – the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations – to persuade the Israelis to pull their troops back to allow the elections.

The Palestinians have had only one general election, in 1996, when Yasser Arafat was overwhelmingly elected president against token opposition and a parliament was chosen. Voting set for 2001 was canceled because of Palestinian-Israeli violence, which erupted in September 2000.

In the first stages of the conflict, Israeli forces moved deep into Palestinian areas, entering cities and towns and setting up roadblocks. The Israelis said the measures were necessary for security, but they paralyzed the Palestinian government and economy.

Qureia said he would raise the general election idea in a meeting with U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in Berlin next week.