Top Israeli army official says Nahal Oz attack aimed at abducting Israeli soldiers

Thursday April 10, 2008 06:19

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli army stated on Wednesday that it estimates that the objective of Wednesday’s attack against the Nahal Oz base aimed at abducting Israeli soldiers, and that the attack had been planned for a long time, Israeli online daily Haaretz reported.

Israeli Army General of the Central Command, Yoav Galant, also stated that the objective of this attack was to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

The statements of Galant came after Abu Mojahid, the spokesperson of the Popular Resistance Committees, said that the primary aim of the attack was to abduct Israeli soldiers. The statements of Abu Mojahid came in an interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news station.

Also, the Israeli army said that a Palestinian vehicle was waiting for the fighters on the Palestinian side of the crossing, which indicates that they intended to abduct soldiers or Israeli citizens and drive them into the Gaza Strip, Haaretz added.

Two Israelis and two Palestinians were killed in the ensuing gun battle. A total of eight Palestinians were killed in several Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Moreover, Haaretz said that the security officer of the Israeli Regional council, Yoav Peled, stated that Palestinian fuel coordinators said that they alerted Israeli guards manning Nahal Oz crossing, which is used for fueling, that Palestinian fighters had infiltrated into the area.

Peled added that the Palestinian drivers of fuel trucks managed to escape the attack unharmed but two Israeli workers were killed while trying to escape.

According to Haaretz, four Palestinian fighters infiltrated the terminal from the Gaza Strip and killed the two Israelis.

Haaretz also said that the transfer of fuel through the terminal is operated by the Israeli gasoline company, Dor Alon. Fuel trucks come of the Israeli side and unload the fuel into an underground pipeline that transfers the fuel into the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government filed an official complaint to the Security Council and its Secretary-General.

Abu Bilal, spokesperson of the Al Mujahedeen Brigades, said that the attack, which was ladled as “Breaking the Siege”, was carried out by four fighters who managed to return to the Gaza Strip unharmed, the Maan News Agency reported.

Abu Bilal added that the fighters fired 60 mortar shells and used “heavy munitions” during the attack.