Israel demands release of kidnapped soldier
Israel today demanded the release of a soldier captured during a daring raid by Palestinian gunmen on a Gaza border crossing.
Two other soldiers were killed in the attack which could cause an escalation of violence in the region.
The militants tunnelled into Gaza yesterday and attacked the Israeli army post at the Kerem Shalom crossing from behind, surprising the soldiers.
It was the first such ground assault since Israel pulled out of Gaza last summer and the first soldier abducted by Palestinians in 12 years.
The kidnapped soldier was identified as 19-year-old Cpl Gilad Shalit.
Major General Elazar Stern said Cpl Shalit was wounded in the attack, but was still able to walk.
“Gilad went on his feet,” he said.
Channel 10 TV reported the soldier’s blood-spattered footprints were found leading into Gaza.
Three of the Palestinian attackers were killed in the battle with Israeli forces at the crossing where the borders of Israel, Egypt and Gaza converge.
Israel, which sent some troops into Gaza after the assault, blamed the Hamas-led government and warned that militants and their leaders will be killed if the abducted soldier is harmed.
Called into an emergency session last night, the Security Cabinet authorised Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to order military moves against Palestinian militants in Gaza.
But first there would be diplomatic efforts to win the return of the soldier, according to a government statement.
Hamas played a leading role in the long-planned attack, and the operation cast a shadow over talks between Hamas and moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party over a joint programme that includes the recognition of Israel as a nation.
After the attack, Israel closed the vital border crossings, the only way people and goods can enter or exit the territory. Previous closings have lead to widespread hardship in the area.
Speaking in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer of Hamas called for the soldier’s release.
“We care about the life of the soldier and we call upon the kidnappers to guarantee his life and to release him,” Mr Shaer said.
Hamas TV ran a statement by Abu Musanna, a spokesman for Islamic Army, rejecting the appeals. He said the group’s demands in exchange for the soldier would be “a prize for our people.”
Hamas, which recently resumed its open involvement in rocket fire on Israel, confirmed its participation in the attack. The small Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and a previously unknown group, the Islamic Army, said they also took part.
Though considered a single entity by Israel and the West, Hamas has divisions. Its political and military wings are separate, and political leaders outside the West Bank and Gaza are more extreme than some of the leaders in the territories.
Some analysts said the exiled leaders ordered the attack through the military wing, bypassing and undermining the local leadership which has been working toward a common political front with moderate President Mahmoud Abbas.
”This operation is a natural response to the Israeli crimes of killing women and children, and the assassination of two (militant) leaders,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
One of those leaders, PRC leader Jamal Abu Samhadana, was killed in an Israeli air strike two weeks ago, shortly after accepting a senior security position in the Hamas-led government.
Most of Israel’s attention was focused on the missing soldier. Israelis are especially sensitive about bringing soldiers home and in the past have freed large numbers of captured militants in return for soldiers or their bodies.
In 1994, when Cpl Nachshon Waxman, a 19-year-old Israeli-American, was kidnapped from a hitchhiking post by militants, Israeli forces tracked him to a house in the West Bank and stormed it instead of negotiating. Waxman and two of his captors were killed in the battle.
Abbas was in touch with world leaders, including US Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, to discuss the latest crisis, said aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz issued a direct threat against the militants holding Cpl Shalit, warning that “anyone who causes the soldier to be harmed should know that the soldier’s blood is on his head.”
A neighbour, Ilana Levy-Zrihan, said Shalit had been in the army for 11 months, and described him as “quiet, introverted, pleasant, everybody’s friend.”
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