The PRC confirmed its leader and several others had been killed in the strike and vowed revenge “against everything and everyone in response to this brutal aggression,” EMAN EL-SHENAWI -AL ARABIYA – AGENCIES
Israeli air strikes have killed the leader of an armed Palestinian faction, a top lieutenant and three other members in the southern Gaza Strip in swift retaliation to the deadly cross-border attacks in southern Israel early Thursday. In an immediate backlash, the Israeli air raids killed six people in the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, including the head of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) militant group, Palestinian medical sources said. The Israeli air force raided southern Gaza after attackers ambushed two buses, detonated a bomb under a military jeep, and fired an RPG at a civilian car early Thursday leaving eight Israelis dead and about a dozen more wounded. Israeli officials have said they have “concrete information” that the cross-border attackers were from Gaza. Israel said the gunmen had come from Gaza through neighboring Egypt, although denied by Hamas. “We have specific and concrete info that these terrorists who killed Israelis today came from the Gaza Strip,” the premier’s spokesman Mark Regev told AFP. “This is not speculation. This is evaluation; this is analysis; this is concrete information.” Defense Minister Ehud Barak also pointed the finger at Gaza, AFP reported. “The source of the terror incidents is Gaza and we will act against them with all our strength and determination,” he said in a statement, also laying blame on Egypt for the security situation in Sinai. “This is a very serious terror incident at a number of locations. The incident reflects the weakness of the Egyptian hold on Sinai and the expansion of activity there by terror elements,” he said. The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a faction that often operates independently from Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers, identified their dead leader as Kamal Al Nairab and said their military chief, Immad Hammad, had also been killed. A nine-year-old boy who had been in the same house as the militants was the sixth fatality in the Israeli attack on Rafah town, local Palestinians said. Israel said they had targeted Nairab, along with several other senior members of the group which it said was responsible for the attacks that killed eight Israelis near the southern Red Sea resort of Eilat. “Among those targeted were Kamal Al Nairab, the head of the organization in the Gaza Strip, Imad Hamad, head of the military wing of the organization, and Khaled Shaath, a senior operative,” a military spokeswoman told AFP. “These officials were behind today’s combined terrorist attacks with the primary objective of kidnapping an Israeli civilian or soldier,” she said. Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet said in a separate statement that a fourth member of the group, Khaled Masry, was also killed in the air strikes. The PRC confirmed its leader and several others had been killed in the strike and vowed revenge “against everything and everyone in response to this brutal aggression,” AFP reported. Meanwhile, the White House spoke out in condemnation of the cross-border attacks on Israel, denouncing them as a string of “terrorist” attacks and expressing hope that those responsible “will be brought to justice swiftly.” “We condemn the brutal terrorist attacks in southern Israel today in the strongest terms,” the presidential press office said in a statement. Italy has also condemned the “barbaric” attacks on Israel as Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the region had become more vulnerable due to the upheaval in the Arab world. “I would like to express my condolences and closeness to the Israeli people and government for the loss of life in the barbaric attacks today,” Mr. Frattini said. “The resurgence of terrorism in such a sensitive region… should push the international community to multiply its efforts to coordinate preventive action in areas that have become more vulnerable after the Arab revolts,” he said. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also wrote a personal message to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, AFP reported, saying: “I feel close to you and to the Israeli people during this moment of pain.” “This hateful crime will reinforce our love for Israel,” he said.
