Militants Launch Sophisticated Strike on Gaza Strip Checkpoint

In one of the most sophisticated assaults since the Palestinian uprising began nearly 3 1/2 years ago, militants used vehicles painted to resemble Israeli army jeeps to ram their way into the heavily fortified main crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Saturday.

Four Palestinian attackers and two Palestinian police officers were killed in the midmorning assault, and 19 Palestinian bystanders were hurt. No Israeli casualties were reported.

The attack was unusual not only because of the level of coordination but also because three major Palestinian militant groups -- Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade -- claimed joint responsibility.

Before dawn today, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles pushed into two refugee camps in Gaza in what the military described as an anti-terror operation, setting off fierce exchanges of fire with Palestinian gunmen.

Palestinian officials reported that at least nine people were killed in the fighting in the Bureij and Nusseirat camps. About two dozen others were reported injured.

In the attack at the Erez crossing, the two Palestinian officers who were killed apparently tried to stop the vehicles from entering the checkpoint, which consists of a long stretch of no man’s land punctuated by concrete barriers, watchtowers and other fortifications.

The assault unfolded in what appeared to be painstakingly orchestrated stages, Israeli military officials and witnesses said.

First, a civilian vehicle, probably a taxi, approached an Israeli army post outside an industrial zone at the checkpoint’s southern edge and blew up, killing the driver.

Then two other vehicles -- jeeps similar to those used by the Israeli military and marked with army insignia -- approached the checkpoint at high speed, as if they were responding to the suicide bombing.

A Palestinian gunman emerged from one of the jeeps in an Israeli army uniform and shot at an Israeli position, setting off an exchange of fire. The two jeeps then sped toward the checkpoint, with one exploding near a Palestinian police post at its southern entrance.

The second jeep tried to crash through a gate near the checkpoint’s main terminal, but Israeli army troops fired on it, killing the men inside.

Troops found assault rifles, 10 magazines of ammunition and 10 hand grenades in the bullet-riddled vehicle, the army said.

“Obviously, their intention was to kill a lot of people,” said military spokeswoman Maj. Sharon Feingold.

Although a joint claim by all three major militant groups is rare, the apparent collaboration was not a surprising development, Israeli security officials said, because the once clear ideological boundaries among the armed factions have been blurring amid the mounting disorder in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Several recent suicide bombings have involved an attacker affiliated with one group using explosives provided by another.

Israel had been on its highest level of alert against Palestinian attacks on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which began Saturday night.

The West Bank and Gaza had been sealed off since Thursday night and were not expected to reopen until after the holiday ended Monday.

The closure meant that Erez was not crowded during the morning assault as it normally would be that time of day, with Palestinian laborers trying to get to their jobs in Israel. Past assaults by militants at the crossing, long a hotspot, have killed and injured Palestinian workers as well as the Israeli forces being targeted.

In several previous assaults on Israeli troops, Palestinian assailants have worn Israeli army uniforms or facsimiles of them. But this was the first time since the Palestinians launched their uprising in September 2000 in which militants used mock-ups of Israeli army vehicles, the army said.

“It’s a new and dangerous method, but it’s not surprising,” said Feingold, the army spokeswoman. “We can see they are very determined to carry out as many attacks as possible, using any method they can. But we will not allow them to succeed.”

Palestinian policeman Mazen Shaheen said he and several colleagues had just arrived at the Palestinian-controlled part of the checkpoint complex to pick up their paychecks when the attack began.

“We heard one very big explosion, and I found myself lying injured, and then a second explosion very close to us,” Shaheen said from his hospital bed. “And through it all, there was intensive shooting. After that, I woke up here.”

Last month, an Israeli soldier was killed at the Erez crossing by Palestinian gunmen, and a female suicide bomber blew herself up at the crossing in January, killing three Israeli soldiers and a security guard.