RESPONSE TO TERROR

Palestinian gunmen stormed deep into a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip late Tuesday, wreaking deadly mayhem and invading a home before they were shot dead by Israeli forces. In retaliation early today, Israel shelled Palestinian targets in the area, killing five people.

In the attack on the settlement, two Israeli teenagers were killed, and at least 15 settlers and soldiers were wounded, an army spokesman said. Israeli snipers shot and killed two of the assailants inside the house where they had barricaded themselves. Throughout the night’s gun battle, there were fears that the Palestinian attackers might have taken hostages. But an army spokesman said early today that the fears proved unfounded; residents reportedly escaped through a window of the house that was invaded.

The raid was one of the most brazen by Palestinian militants since the outbreak of the intifada a year ago. It will almost certainly torpedo efforts to solidify a cease-fire agreed to last week and diligently ignored since. The cease-fire needs to hold before Israelis and Palestinians can begin negotiations aimed at ending the bloodshed.

Israel retaliated by shelling Palestinian targets across the northern Gaza Strip. Firing from tanks and boats in the sea, the Israelis destroyed at least seven Palestinian security posts, witnesses said. Tanks and bulldozers also demolished buildings in the area. Palestinian officials said five bodies were recovered from the wreckage.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, in an unusually quick and strongly worded statement, condemned the attack on the Jewish settlement as a Palestinian violation of the cease-fire. He said he was ordering his security services to investigate and determine which group was behind the well-organized raid.

An angry Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, cutting short an appearance before visiting Christian groups, condemned “another terrible act of terror.” He convened an emergency 1 a.m. session of his Cabinet, which later issued a statement blaming repeated cease-fire violations on Arafat.

A man who said he represented the military wing of the radical Islamic movement Hamas telephoned reporters to claim responsibility for the assault.

Three gunmen infiltrated the Alei Sinai settlement, which is home to about 80 families, on the far northern tip of the Gaza Strip. Residents were celebrating the tiny agricultural settlement’s 18th anniversary as well as the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Many were sitting outside or strolling in the streets when the gunmen attacked.

The Palestinians opened fire and hurled grenades at the settlers before fleeing into a house and shooting from there. Army special forces surrounded the building and scanned the settlement for other attackers. Two of the Palestinians were killed there, and the third was being sought.

An 18-year-old female and a male youth were killed in the gunfire, and eight settlers, including two children, and seven soldiers were wounded, the army said.

Residents, reached by telephone, described having locked themselves in their houses as gunfire rang out on the southern edge of the settlement. They reported sitting in the dark in enclosed security rooms built for wartime missile attacks.

A nearly simultaneous and perhaps coordinated attack on the nearby settlement of Dugit left at least three soldiers wounded, Israeli radio reported. Israeli combat helicopters could be seen flying over the northern half of the Gaza Strip as clouds of black smoke rose in the air.

The timing of Tuesday’s attacks could prove disastrous for efforts by the Bush administration and some Israeli and Palestinian officials to defuse tensions and reduce the raging violence in the region.

Sharon’s Cabinet was to decide later today whether to stick with the cease-fire agreement announced last week by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Arafat. Many of the hard-liners in Sharon’s government want to return to military actions such as targeted killings, which Sharon recently suspended, and they will be demanding retaliation for Tuesday’s attack on Alei Sinai.

There are various theories about why violence has continued on the Palestinian side. Some analysts believe Arafat is not able to control all of the fragmented groups of gunmen who have had relatively free rein for months. Israeli officials suggest that Arafat is lending only halfhearted support to the truce and wants to maintain a certain level of violence as pressure on the Israelis while at the same time moving toward negotiations.

Meanwhile, violence from the Israeli side has not abated. There was a sharp escalation in the days after the cease-fire announcement, which coincided with the first anniversary of the intifada. On several occasions, Israeli troops opened fire on demonstrating Palestinians who were hurling rocks and firebombs. Eighteen Palestinians were killed, and more than 200 were wounded, in four days. Peres blamed the army for undermining the truce.

Earlier Tuesday, Israel announced that it was holding up its end of the bargain by pulling tanks back from some Palestinian towns and lifting a number of roadblocks. Palestinians reportedly complied with one Israeli demand, the arrest in the West Bank town of Bethlehem of Fatah militia member Atef Abeiyat, wanted by Israel in the slaying of a woman last month.

Palestinian militants have attempted to raid Jewish settlements three times during the last year. They killed Israeli soldiers guarding some of the enclaves; a resident farmer also was slain. But Tuesday’s appeared to be the deepest foray so far into what are generally heavily fortified communities.