Following Tuesday's twin bombing attack in Beer Sheba, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided in a Tuesday night meeting with top military officials to launch an offensive in the West Bank city of Hebron, the home of the suicide bombers Ahmed Kawasma and Nassim Jaabri.
According to Haaretz, Hebron will be encircled and Palestinians' freedom of movement there will likely be severely limited. Shortly after the attack, which killed 16 Israelis, occupation troops in the West Bank raided the bombers' homes.
In addition, Israeli forces have imposed a full closure on the Gaza Strip in the wake of an attempted suicide bombing at the Erez Crossing. Palestinian workers have also been banned from working in Israel or in the Erez industrial zone until further notice. Assassinations of senior Hamas activists in the Gaza Strip are also expected to increase, Haaretz added.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas followers hailed the attacks. About 20,000 sang and threw candy in the streets of Gaza City in celebration of the bombings.
Hamas claimed responsibility through a leaflet that surfaced in Hebron, 50 km from Be'er Sheva, saying the attacks were aimed to avenging Israel's assassination of its two top leaders in helicopter missile strikes in March and April.
"This is but one of a series of responses in which the Iz a Din al-Kassam Brigades have vowed to carry out in response to the martyrdom of the leaders of our movement, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi," it said.
"Our religion orders us to respond in kind to aggression against us. You [Israelis] are the ones who choose your leaders and choose to be their shields. Therefore your shields will suffer more blows," the leaflet said.
"This is a gift to the newcomers who arrived recently to our land," it added in a reference to recent wave of Jewish immigration to Israel. "We say to you: 'This is your fate, so wait.'"
Israel, however, blamed Syria for the attacks. A senior military official told Haaretz that the Syrians continue to sponsor "terror" groups operating out of Damascus, providing both logistical and financial backing. Another source told the newspaper, "it is not the PR departments of these organizations sitting in Damascus. It is their operational commands." (albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
