IDF enters Gaza for first time since pullout

The Israel Defense Forces yesterday entered Palestinian Authority territory in the Gaza Strip openly for the first time since last summer's disengagement. IDF soldiers crossed the Green Line fence and penetrated about 100 meters into the PA in order to examine the place in which two armed Palestinians were killed on Wednesday and to ensure that no bombs had been planted there.

The Palestinians had planned to attack either an Israeli community or a military patrol on Wednesday evening.

At around 5 P.M., two women soldiers on duty saw two armed Palestinians crawling toward the fence south of the Kissufim border crossing. The men were first fired on by a tank, then from the air and were killed. They were found to be carrying two Kalashnikov assault rifles, ammunition clips, grenades, a two-way radio and barbed-wire cutters. The bodies of the men, identified as Ibrahim Masoud, 20, and Muhammad Elamudi, 22, from the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza, were removed by the International Red Cross.

"If Hamas leaders don't act to stop the rockets, they must be hit hard and pay a heavy price," Brigadier General Gadi Eisenkot, head of operations at General Staff Headquarters said. "What we saw up to now was just an introduction."

"We have full legitimacy to impose great force when they continue to fire on our towns. The Israeli public also understands that, and so does the international arena. I don't see anyone in the world getting upset about it," Eisenkot continued.

Eisenkot claims that "we are not trying to purposely fan the flames," but in the same breath he admits that "we realize that a wider confrontation could result. In my opinion that's preferable to them getting us accustomed to 25 Qassams a week. True, no Israelis have been killed by Qassams since the disengagement but there is another test that must not be ignored: the sense of security of the people living in proximity to Gaza."

See full interview with Brig. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, p. B1.

The Palestinian organizations often use explosive devices that can be deployed remotely against soldiers on the Israeli side of the border. Until a week ago, when Israel suspended contact with the Palestinian security forces in Gaza in response to the swearing-in of the Hamas government, the Palestinians used to search for such devices in coordination with the IDF. The IDF will now patrol the Palestinian side.

Two Qassams were fired in the area during the IDF operation. No one was injured.

IDF artillery continued to shell Gaza during the holiday.

IDF sources claim that the Qassams have grown less accurate as a result of the Israeli military pressure on the launching areas.

Yesterday morning, troops uncovered an explosives laboratory in the West Bank village of Burkin near Jenin. Thirty kilograms of explosives as well as four devices and related equipment were found at the site, which was run by Islamic Jihad. Border Police sappers blew up the lab under controlled conditions.

A young Palestinian man carrying a makeshift pistol and an ax was apprehended by soldiers of the IDF's ultra-Orthodox Nahal unit at the Beqaot junction east of Nablus.

The army arrested 15 Palestinians on the West Bank over the weekend.

Arnon Regular contributed to this story.