By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Jun 19, 2005
Two IDF soldiers and an Israeli civilian were wounded, one seriously, when Palestinian Arab terrorists launched a coordinated assault on an army post along the Gaza-Sinai border Sunday morning.
One of the victims later succumbed to his wounds and died at Beersheva's Soroka Medical Center.
The terrorists also opened fire on Israeli ambulance crews that arrived to evacuate the wounded.
One terrorist was killed, and at least one other wounded in the ensuing gun battle.
The gunmen, who used anti-tank missiles and small arms fire, were members of Islamic Jihad and Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction.
Over the weekend, Gaza-based ?Palestinian? forces fired at least four Kassam rockets and five mortar shells at Israeli communities in and around the Strip.
Sunday's assault came just one day after vising US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Abbas to maintain the so-called ceasefire he convinced the ?Palestinian? terror groups to join earlier in the year.
Rice said the PA was to ?play a critical role in providing a secure environment? in which Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria could take place.
Abbas, who Rice insisted was a ?man of peace,? continues to refuse to eliminate the threat of such anti-Jewish violence by honoring his peace obligation to disarm and dismantle the ?Palestinian? terrorist infrastructure.