Hamas Participates in Attacks on Israel

Can we finally dispel the notion that Hamas is refraining from attacking Israel while other terrorist groups do their dirty work for them? Hamas was involved in the latest attack, which involved tunneling under the Gaza/Israel border and launching an attack on an Israeli security checkpoint. Two Israelis were killed and several others were wounded.

The small Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack near the Kerem Shalom crossing, saying militants from the ruling Hamas group and from a previously unknown group, the Islam Army, participated in the attack. The PRC said three militants were killed in fighting.

Two Israelis were killed in the attack, security sources said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. At least five other Israelis were wounded, including three from a bomb detonated shortly after the initial strike, the army said.

The violence comes at a time of heightened tensions over Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli towns and retaliatory Israeli air strikes that have killed 13 civilians in recent weeks. Palestinians also blame Israeli artillery for an explosion at a Gaza beach that killed eight civilians, but Israel denies it was responsible.

''Our fighters infiltrated the Israeli army military location near so-called Kerem Shalom,'' said Abu Mujahid, another PRC spokesman. ''They succeeded in blowing up several Israeli vehicles and clashed with Israeli soldiers. The battle is still going on. The number of fighters is bigger than ever. We have some martyrs who fell during the battle.''

He said full details of the operation would be released at a news conference later Sunday.

Residents in a nearby communal farm said the Palestinian militants infiltrated the military post through a tunnel dug under the border fence.

Abu Mujahid refused to confirm the report, but said: ''It was a very complicated and well-studied operation. The details are going to shock the Zionists. There are many surprises that are going to be announced about planning and about the process and about the battle itself.''

Israel quickly launched a raid into Gaza to search for the breech across the border. Building a tunnel is a time and labor intensive endeavor. That means that there was extensive planning and coordination to make this raid happen.

We should dispel the notion that the Palestinians aren't engaging in a war with Israel once and for all. It is well past time that the Palestinians learn what fighting a war is about since they're the ones who keep attacking Israel.

UPDATE:
Carl in Jerusalem notes that the IDF has given Abu Mazen an ultimatum follwing the attack on the Israeli checkpoint - either release the Israeli soldier captured in the raid or Israel will reenter Gaza. Abu Mazen has to either put up, or Israel will know that they don't have anyone on the Palestinian side worth talking to.

Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz confirmed at a press conference this afternoon that the soldier is still alive, and that Hamas is holding him. He said that Hamas was involved "hand and foot" in this incident and said that he held Hamas responsible for the soldier's well-being. The soldier is the first to be kidnapped in Israel by 'Palestinians' since Nachshon Waxman HY"D, a 19-year old who was also an American citizen, was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in 1994. Three IDF soldiers were kidnapped and murdered by Hezbullah at the Lebanese border in 2000.

Hamas did not formally claim the abduction but said that it would not provide Israel with any information on the soldier's whereabouts without 'getting something in return.'

Brig-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, the Gaza southern commander, reiterated Halutz's comments, but added that it was possible that the soldier was wounded during the attack.

Security forces sweeping the area around Rafah found the soldier's flak jacket.

In the press conference, Halutz admitted that the army did not know about the tunnel through which the terrorists entered ("if we had known about it, we would have destroyed it"), and refused to comment on any changes that the IDF may adopt along the Gaza border as a result of this incident. The army is doing all it can to make sure that the soldier is not transported into Egypt.

Hamas is the official government of the Palestinian people, and this act is one more act that constitutes an act of war against Israel - along with the hundreds of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and attempted terrorist attacks thwarted by Israeli forces.

The Palestinian terrorists will pay a heavy price, but terrorists are synonymous with the Palestinian government. Perhaps Hamas sought to carry out this attack to deemphasize the civil war between Hamas and Fatah and that the best way to stop the civil war is to get all the Palestinian terrorist groups on the same page by attacking Israel.