Five die in attack on Israeli outpost

By PHIL REEVES

JERUSALEM - Three Israeli soldiers have been killed and seven wounded in the Gaza Strip in the bloodiest attack by Palestinian guerrillas on an Israeli military post since the start of the intifada 11 months ago.

The assault, in which the Israelis shot dead two Palestinian gunmen, has further significance because it was claimed by a small Palestinian faction, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which has so far played no military part in the conflict.

If the DFLP were responsible, Israel now faces yet another guerrilla organisation in a worsening war in which both sides are becoming steadily more entrenched.

The 1.2 milloin Arabs of the blockaded Gaza Strip are now braced for reprisals from Israel, which has vowed to respond to every attack.

An Israeli government spokesman, Avi Pazner, described the assault as "particularly serious as they penetrated into an Israeli base ... Israel will respond accordingly".

The raid began at about 4 am (local time) when two Palestinians, armed with Kalashnikov assault rivals and hand grenades, walked up to an isolated military outpost in southern Gaza, and, from as little as five metres, opened fire.

They killed three, including a 30-year-old major and a 21-year-old medic.

Israeli soldiers sleeping in the base, near the Jewish settlement of Gadid, scrambled for their weapons, and began firing back.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli armed forces said one Palestinian was killed at the scene, and the second shot dead as he withdrew.

The Israeli military leadership, whose soldiers have a reputation for being sloppy about their security in the occupied territories, was clearly shaken by the incident, which the army said was under investigation.

"This was definitely not a successful night," said Major-General Doron Almog.

It was the army's second largest death toll since the conflict began last September, exceeded only by an attack in February when a Gazan driver ploughed his bus into a crowd at a hitch-hiking post near Tel Aviv, killing seven soldiers.

Forty-three Israeli soldiers have been killed since the uprising began and 441 injured, including 10 in an attack on the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv three weeks ago.

If the DFLP does turn out to have been responsible – in a videotape made before the attack, the two militants were shown with Kalashnikovs, seated in front of the group's flag – it marks its return to military operations after a long period of inactivity.

Its officials, along with those of other Palestinian factions, have played a part in the local popular resistance committees which co-ordinate non-violent political activities on the ground.

But each separate faction plans and conducts its military operations in isolation.

The Marxist DFLP, which is headed by the Damascus-based Nayef Hawatmeh, has faded into obscurity during the years of the Oslo negotiations, with polls showing its support at around 1 per cent.

Its return to the fray is yet another headache for Israel, which has repeatedly tried to deter the militants by assassinating their leaders, so far to no avail.

Israel now faces the Islamic nationalists – Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – responsible for a wave of suicide bombings, a newly invigorated Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Fatah movement, which believes that war should be confined to attacks on Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers inside the occupied territories.

Now yet another group has taken up arms against Israel, and, yet again, the picture has darkened.

INDEPENDENT