Palestinians call Israeli airstrike a cease-fire breach

An Israeli helicopter fired into the Gaza Strip, killing a member of a militant squad that was clashing with Israeli forces Saturday in one of the most serious breaches of a 4-month-old cease-fire, Palestinian officials said.

The Israeli military said the air attack was aimed at militants planting a bomb along the border fence. It denied sending ground forces into the coastal territory.

But Palestinian officials who monitor the border said fighting erupted before dawn when plainclothes Israeli special forces slipped across the fence and were discovered by a squad of fighters from two small militant groups that refuse to honor the Nov. 26 truce.

The helicopter attack, apparently aimed at covering the special forces’ retreat, was part of a more aggressive Israeli policy that itself is straining the cease-fire. In the previous two weeks, Israel had staged an airstrike and a brief ground incursion against Palestinian gunmen, killing one in each operation.

Palestinian witnesses of Saturday’s 90-minute battle said the Israeli helicopter fired at least four missiles between the border fence and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding three armed Palestinians. One of them, Fuad Marouf, 22, of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was killed.

That group and Islamic Jihad, operating together, said they had been firing rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the Israeli special forces and setting off explosives along the fence.

The Gaza clashes are a setback for a U.S. effort, pressed during three visits to the region by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice since November, to extend the Gaza truce to the West Bank.

Israeli officials have rebuffed the proposal, demanding full compliance with the Gaza truce first. They say militant groups in Gaza, including Hamas, which shares power in the Palestinian Authority government, have been exploiting the cease-fire to smuggle explosives, missiles and other weapons into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt.

During the truce, Palestinians have continued to fire crude Kassam rockets into Israel, although at a lower rate.

Israeli officials say their recent incursions into Gaza have been to check for bombs or strike at militants about to launch attacks, and do not amount to cease-fire violations.

But the Israeli military has been openly preparing for a possible large-scale invasion of Gaza. Although Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has so far declined to approve such an offensive, Defense Minister Amir Peretz last week authorized limited operations along the border to halt rocket launchings and bombings.

Israel withdrew its military bases and settlers from Gaza in September 2005, ending a 38-year occupation. Israeli troops frequently reentered the territory and engaged in combat from June to November last year after militants with Hamas and other groups seized an Israeli soldier from his post along the Gaza border.

The soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, is still being held, and his captivity is another obstacle to peace efforts. For months the two sides have negotiated through Egyptian mediators for his release.

The Palestinian Authority reported Saturday that Egypt had handed Israel a list of prisoners the captors want freed in exchange for the soldier.

The number of prisoners on the list was not disclosed. Israel is holding about 9,300 Palestinians considered to be security threats.

Previous reports had said Palestinian negotiators would demand the freedom of 1,400 of them, including women, minors and dozens of the longest-serving inmates.

“The procedure for a [prisoner] exchange has started,” Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “If the Israeli government is serious, there is now a very good opportunity to end this chapter.”

boudreaux@latimes.com

Special correspondent Abu Alouf reported from Gaza City and Times staff writer Boudreaux from Jerusalem.