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Israel threatens retaliation
10/04/2008 12:05 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Israel warned on Thursday it will retaliate against Hamas, blaming the Palestinian Islamist group for a deadly explosion of violence in the Gaza Strip that followed a month of relative calm.
Israeli authorities said they temporarily shut down the Nahal Oz fuel terminal following Wednesday's attack, but insisted they would continue providing minimal fuel supplies to the Palestinian territory that has been under a crippling blockade for months.
"We will settle the score with Hamas which bears sole responsibility for what happened in the Gaza Strip," Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said.
"We will choose the time and the place," he told Israeli army radio, as residents in Gaza awoke to a tense calm.
Gaza militants on Wednesday breached the border with Israel under cover of mortar fire, killing two Israeli contractors working at the Nahal Oz terminal that provides the Palestinian territory with its fuel supplies.
"Hamas is responsible"
Islamic Jihad warned there will be "other operations to respond to Israeli aggressions and crimes."
The group and two smaller militant organisations claimed they carried out the Nahal Oz raid, but the Israeli government insists Hamas is ultimately responsible because it controls Gaza.
Israel subsequently imposed a tight embargo on the impoverished, overpopulated sliver of land on the Mediterranean coast, cutting off all but the most essential supplies.
Vilnai made it clear Israel would not completely cut off fuel deliveries to the Palestinian territory.
"We cannot afford to provoke a humanitarian crisis," said the deputy minister. "We will supply enough fuel to ensure the vital minimum for the Palestinian population."
Nahal Oz was closed on Thursday as senior military and government officials assessed the situation. "Its opening will depend on the security evaluation," said Shady Yassim, spokesperson for the Israeli military liaison office with Gaza.
Hamas deny responsibility
The army, which said two militants were killed at the border, called Wednesday's attack a "failed abduction attempt".
Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza through Nahal Oz after the assault, and three Palestinian civilians were killed, including a 15-year-old boy, when an artillery round slammed into a nearby house, medics said.
Hamas did not claim the border attack, but its armed wing said it fired three homemade rockets at the crossing after the battle, the first time it has claimed an attack on Israel since the beginning of March.
The two sides had refrained from engaging in any major attacks for several weeks following a massive Israeli military assault on Gaza launched in late February that killed 130 Palestinians and five Israelis.
- AFP
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