Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Monday, killing at least six people, Palestinian security sources and Israeli radio stations said.
Palestinian security sources said the car was turned into a pile of twisted wreckage and the body parts of the passengers were scattered amid the smoking remains of the vehicle.
Israel Radio said the attack was the latest strike under an Israeli policy to deliberately target and kill Palestinian activists behind suicide bombings and shooting attacks.
According to Palestinian sources, the helicopters slammed at least four missiles into a Mercedes car, which included two senior activists in the military wing of Hamas. Israel Radio reported that one of the dead was the Rafah-area commander of Hamas military arm, which it identified as Yasser Rizq, 29. It said a second man, Amir Kouffa, 26 whom it called "a very central activist" of Hamas' military wing, was also killed.
Two brothers of one of the activists were also killed along with the driver. A passenger in another vehicle which was damaged in the attack also died, doctors at Rafah hospital said.
Doctors in Rafah said 10 people were wounded in the strike on the outskirts of the Rafah refugee camp, including several children.
"This criminal act will not go unpunished," Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior Hamas official, told AFP.
"The Israelis will bear responsibility for these crimes against our people," said Abu Shanab, following the missile attack.
The Hamas armed wing, the Ezzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, warned it would step up "suicide bombings" in retaliation for Israel's reoccupation of Palestinian land and Monday's raid.
"We will continue the march of the Jihad (holy war) and resistance, and will step up suicide operations. This is our reply to (Israeli) occupation," the group said in a statement.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP the raid was "Israeli state terrorism," while Palestinian security sources said it was part of "targeted killings."
The Israeli army, meanwhile, acknowledged killing only one senior Hamas official in the Gaza attack.
"Israeli security forces killed Yasser Rizk, 29, a senior official of Hamas in Rafah who was behind an attack that cost the lives of four Israeli soldiers last January 9," an army spokesman said in a statement.
"In recent days, Yasser Rizk was preparing suicide attacks in Israeli territory," the Israeli army spokesman said. He added that Rizk had been imprisoned in Israel between 1992 and 1993.
Ramallah
Earlier, Israeli forces backed by dozens of tanks again took over Ramallah, sealing off Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound.
Palestinian security sources said some 50-60 tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles moved into Ramallah from the north, east and southeast early Monday, with at least two helicopter gunships in support.
The Israelis immposed a curfew on Ramallah, the al-Amari refugee camp and the neighboring town of al-Bireh. About 20 tanks and armored personnel carriers also patrolled the suburb of Beitunia, which they entered four days ago.
Three tanks and a military jeep moved into Arafat's compound as the Israelis began sealing off access roads, the security sources said.
The Israelis, who have vowed to occupy Palestinian territory for as long as the attacks on its people continue, control six of eight major West Bank towns. They had already seized Jenin, Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Bethlehem and Nablus.
The Israeli army said in a statement that troops and border police "launched operations in Ramallah tonight, taking control of the strategic points of the city and imposing a curfew."
The statement said an Israeli soldier was slightly wounded by an explosive device in Ramallah. It added its troops had arrested 12 Palestinians in the areas of Hebron, Jenin and Bethlehem.
A Palestinian official inside Arafat's headquarters confirmed the entry of Israeli tanks in the compound. "We heard the sound of the tanks entering but we don't know where they are exactly," he told AFP.
An Israeli bulldozer began piling up large rocks and rubble in order to seal off the five access roads leading to the compound, security sources said. Two large explosions were heard which Palestinian sources said were shells fired by Israeli helicopter gunships.
One of them hit the al-Amari camp, landing in the middle of a road, while it was not clear where the second landed. No casualties were reported.
The sources said Israeli troops stormed the house of Jihad Tumaleh, the head of Fatah in the al-Amari refugee camp, but did not find him. Two unidentified Palestinians were arrested near Arafat's headquarters.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Monday incursion was the beginning of the end for the Palestinian Authority. "It is obvious that the Israelis have started that long-term occupation of the West Bank and abolishment of the Palestinian Authority." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
