One Palestinian and one Israeli officer were killed and another soldier was injured Thursday morning, after two Palestinians opened fire on troops in the northern Gaza Strip, between the settlements of Dugit and Nissanit.
The soldier injured in that attack sustained light-to-moderate injuries, according to Israel Radio.
In another attack, near the Kissufim Crossing between Israel and Gaza, several Israelis were injured, some of them seriously. An Israeli tank hit an explosive charge in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli military sources said.
The incident early Thursday occurred on a track used by Israeli units patrolling the security fence. According to unofficial reports, one Israeli soldier was killed in this incident.
At least seven Israeli tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers Thursday entered the town of Rafah on the border between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, destroying a Palestinian house, eyewitnesses and security sources said.
Residents witnessed sporadic fighting between invading Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. The witnesses said the armored vehicles and tanks moved 500 meters deep into the neighborhood of Al Sallam and razed a Palestinian house.
They also reported the Israeli army came to the house of Mohamed Al Qaseer, an activist who carried out an armed attack eight months ago in the central Gaza Strip, killing six Israeli soldiers and settlers before being shot dead himself.
Palestinian security said Israeli troops entered several houses where they destroy walls in order to move from one room to another. After the demolition, Israeli soldiers left the town.
Earlier, Israel said its security forces have prevented what a senior police officer described as "one of the biggest terror bombing attempts since the start of the intifada," when they intercepted a car in the early hours of Thursday morning filled with 600 kilograms of explosives near the city of Hadera, some 50 kms north of Tel Aviv.
According to Haaretz, two cars - an Isuzu van and a Golf - were captured at around 2 A.M. (2300 GMT) after police at a roadblock ordered them to stop. But the cars continued driving and the occupants then jumped out and fled. Police then discovered the explosives in the van, along with two gas-filled cannisters and a cellular phone.
Israeli security forces were still searching the area on Thursday morning for the men who had fled the vehicles. Northern police chief Ya'akov Borovsky said he believed that those planning the attack were still inside Israel.
EU plan
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected Wednesday night an EU peace plan. An Israeli official said Sharon had ruled out the EU plan, quoting him as saying there "cannot be the least amount of progress as long as Yasser Arafat is the head of the Palestinian Authority because he blocks any veritable reform that would permit putting an end to terrorism."
Sharon described the plan's timescale as "unrealistic," Army Radio reported.
Sharon told Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller that progress must be made according to the situation on the ground, rather than by following a pre-determined plan, the radio said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
