Palestinians use tunnel to attack “Israeli” post, 2 soldiers killed, 1 taken prisoner in Raid at Gaza Border

Source: Washington Post, 26-6-2006
JERUSALEM (AL-QUDS) - A squad of Palestinian gunmen sneaked through a tunnel beneath "Israel's" border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday and attacked an army post with grenades, rifles and antitank missiles, killing two "Israeli" soldiers and kidnapping another.
Two Palestinian gunmen were killed in the pre-dawn raid, the most ambitious against an "Israeli" military target since "Israel" evacuated Gaza last fall. At least four "Israeli" soldiers were wounded in the clash, which brought "Israeli" tanks and bulldozers about a half-mile inside the Gaza border to scour the desert terrain and the half-mile long tunnel beneath for the missing soldier.
Until the Sunday incursion, only small "Israeli" commando forces had entered Gaza on two operations since the evacuation. Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, chief of the "Israeli" military, said during a news conference hours after the raid that information suggested the soldier remains alive.
"There is no doubt that this caught us by surprise, in certain aspects," Halutz said. "I don`t want to voice conclusive remarks on the future, as I believe we should first investigate things to the end. We must, of course, accept the instructions from the political echelon and then decide what to do."
Several Palestinian groups asserted responsibility for the operation, whose sophistication resembled ones staged by the Lebanese Hizbullah along "Israel's" northern border. In the past, those raids have resulted in the kidnapping of "Israeli" soldiers, who are often used as leverage to gain the release of Palestinians being held in "Israeli" jails.
"Israeli" military officials identified the kidnapped soldier as Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, from the Galilee region of northern "Israel", who began his military service less than a year ago.
The last known prisoner - soldier taken by a Palestinian armed group was in 1994. The "Israeli" government said Cpl. Nachson Waxman, 19, was taken by the Islamic group Hamas and died during a rescue operation.
Military officials said Sunday`s raid involved eight gunmen dressed in "Israeli" Army uniforms who divided into three assault groups once they infiltrated near the Kerem Shalom crossing, where the borders of "Israel", Egypt and Gaza meet.
Among the attackers were members of the Izzadeen al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, whose leaders control the Palestinian government. In his remarks, Halutz said, "Hamas is involved in this matter from head to foot."
The Popular Resistance Committees and a previously unknown group calling itself the Army of Islam also participated in the attack.
Spokesmen for the groups in Gaza said the raid was a response to the "Israeli" airstrike on a training camp in southern Gaza earlier this month that killed Jamal Abu Samhadanah, the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees who last month was named director general of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
Later in the day, the groups disclosed that the soldier, Shalit, had been wounded in the stomach and chest but that he was strong enough to have been led without assistance.
For the past week, "Israeli" military officials have warned of an impending attack at the southern crossings, prompting several relatively short closures of the Kerem Shalom and Rafah passages. The crossings, important to Gaza`s economy and its chief gateway to Egypt, were closed after the attack.
No Palestinian gunmen have breached the Gaza border since the last "Israeli" soldier left the strip last September, according to senior officers in the army`s Gaza division. But Palestinian fighters have sought to tunnel under the border, sneak into "Israel" by sea and regularly fire crude rockets toward "Israeli" farming communities on the strip`s periphery.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is facing stiffening pressure to end the missile barrage against southern "Israel", which in the past two weeks has exceeded 120 rockets. Most have landed harmlessly in empty areas, but more than a dozen have hit the city of Sderot, wounding one resident gravely.
At the same time, "Israeli" artillery and airstrikes aimed at putting down the rocket fire have taken a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians. Fourteen civilians, including at least five children, have been killed by the "Israeli" military strikes in the past two weeks.