Ehud Olmert vowed to continue to hit the Gaza Strip a day after Palestinian terrorists botched an attempt to kidnap Israeli soldiers on its border.
“Our operations in Gaza will continue as long as the rocket fire and the terror attacks continue,” the Israeli prime minister said Sunday at his weekly Cabinet meeting.Olmert did not say if military strikes would increase.
On Saturday, an Islamic Jihad squad posing as journalists penetrated the off-limits Kissufim border crossing, attacking an unoccupied Israeli military outpost. Israeli forces responded with a brief pursuit in which one Palestinian was killed, but the rest of the gunmen fled.
It was the first cross-border raid since June 25, 2006, when two soldiers were killed and Sgt. Gilad Shalit was snatched in a similar operation nearby. Shalit is still being held captive.Islamic Jihad said it wanted to kidnap an Israeli soldier in Saturday’s raid. Military sources said members of the Al-Aksa Brigades joined forces with Islamic Jihad for the Kissufim attack.
The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem condemned Islamic Jihad’s use of a jeep marked “TV” in the raid, saying “such an incident will reduce the protection offered by marked vehicles” for journalists.
