13 Israeli Soldiers Hurt in Hamas Suicide Bombing in Gaza

By GRIFF WITTE

By Griff Witte

The Washington Post

JERUSALEM

Hamas suicide bombers detonated two explosives-laden vehicles at a key crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, wounding 13 Israeli soldiers in an attack the army described as unusually sophisticated.

The bombing, under the cover of morning fog and just hours before the start of the Passover holiday, was the fifth strike at a Gaza border crossing in recent weeks.

A Hamas spokesman vowed that there would be “worse to come” as the group released video apparently showing the faces of three attackers before the assault.

Gaza has been under a severe economic blockade since June, when Hamas took over the narrow coastal strip after routing forces loyal to the rival Fatah party.

Hamas, a radical Islamist movement that does not recognize Israel, has vowed repeatedly to break the blockade, though Israeli officials say attacks such as Saturday’s show that the group is trying to provoke a crisis in Gaza by striking at the territory’s lifelines. All goods coming in and out of Gaza must be approved by Israel, and only humanitarian essentials are allowed through a small number of crossings.

“They know that the crossings are the way to provide food, medicine and gas,” said Maj. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman. “They don’t care if the population doesn’t receive these things.”

The assault occurred at 6 a.m. when three vehicles – two painted to look like Israeli army jeeps and an armored car – approached the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, Leibovich said.

With heavy mortar fire giving them cover, the vehicles burst through a perimeter fence. When Israeli soldiers were dispatched to confront the vehicles, two of the vehicles exploded. Of the 13 soldiers who were wounded, one sustained serious injuries, Leibovich said.

Half an hour later, another armored vehicle approached a different crossing but was struck by an Israeli tank shell before it reached its apparent target.

Also Saturday, four Palestinian fighters and a member of Hamas’ police force were killed in Israeli strikes, medical sources in Gaza said.

peace initiative

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with senior Hamas leaders Saturday in Damascus, Syria, for a second day to hear their views, defying U.S. and Israeli warnings that doing so would grant the group legitimacy. The U.S. and Israel have labeled Hamas a terrorist organization.

Hamas officials said they talked to Carter about ways to lift the Gaza closure and the possibility of swapping an Israeli soldier held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Carter, on what he has called a personal peace mission, is the most prominent American to hold talks with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.

– The Associated Press

(c) 2008 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.