Israel killed seven Palestinians in a missile strike in southern Gaza yesterday after back-to-back ambushes claimed the lives of 11 soldiers in the worst blow to the Middle East's mightiest army in two years.
Witnesses said two missiles hit a crowd in Rafah refugee camp near the spot where militants blew up an explosives-packed troop carrier on Wednesday, killing five soldiers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
An Israeli military source said the missiles were fired at militants trying to plant bombs.
Six Israeli servicemen died on Tuesday when their armored vehicle hit a land mine during a raid in a militant stronghold in Gaza City.
Israeli forces pulled out of the Gaza district early yesterday in what Palestinian sources said was an Egyptian-mediated deal under which militants returned soldiers' remains.
The new spiral of violence intensified debate between proponents and opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate settlers from Gaza, now stalled by rightist hardliners in his own Likud party.
Polls show most Israelis see Gaza as a liability that should be abandoned. Sharon vows to pursue his plan despite its defeat in a May 2 Likud vote that also reflected fears that Palestinian militants would seize on a unilateral pullout as a victory.
"There is a war against terror, and in that war there are bad days," Sharon's deputy, vice premier Ehud Olmert, told Israel Radio. Olmert said Sharon was working on a plan "to disengage from Gaza" that would also address Likud concerns.
Islamic Jihad, one of the main groups behind suicide bombings against Israelis, claimed responsibility for the Rafah ambush.
The group said its fighters used an anti-tank rocket and a large bomb laid in the vehicle's path to destroy it.
An army spokesman said the vehicle was on a mission to "neutralize" tunnels used to smuggle weapons to Gaza across the border from Egypt, and was unloading some of its explosives at the time it was struck.
An Islamic Jihad statement said the ambush was to avenge Israel's killings of some of its leaders as well as Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the largest militant movement Hamas.
"What can I tell you? We're extremely happy, like never before," an Islamic Jihad activist said of the two ambushes, reminiscent of tactics used by Hezbollah guerrillas that eventually ended Israel's occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.
Together the attacks marked the worst blow to the Israeli army since April 2002, when 13 soldiers were killed during an assault on a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin, which is a militant stronghold.
Just after midnight yesterday, Israeli forces pulled out out of Gaza City's Zeitoun district, signalling that a deal had been worked out between the two sides.
Palestinian security officials later handed over the soldiers' remains to Israel at a checkpoint north of Gaza, saying they were obtained under order from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat after militants gave them to Egyptian mediators.
An Israeli military spokesman said only in a terse statement that forensics experts would identify the "findings."
Israel had said troops would stay put until the bodies were recovered for a proper burial according to Jewish tradition and it would do no deals with "terrorists."
The army said it raided Zeitoun to destroy weapons workshops used by militants.
Palestinian medics said 16 people, including militants and bystanders, were killed, and another 185 were wounded during the two-day siege.
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