"This operation was a clear and final message to the enemy leaders: They need to keep civilians far from their hateful bullets and leave the battle between the heroes of the resistance and the [Israeli] soldiers," the joint statement said.

In the past two weeks, 14 Palestinian civilians, including a pregnant woman and young children, were killed by errant Israeli air strikes. Eight people were also killed on a Gaza beach, seven of whom belonged to a single family, by an Israeli shell.

Hamas lawmaker Musheer al-Masry hailed the pre-dawn assault, which was claimed by the ruling Hamas movement's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the radical Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the previously unknown Army of Islam group.

"We consider this operation part of the natural response to the Zionist crimes, especially after the series of killings of children, women, old men and whole families in Gaza," Masry said. "It is the right of our people to defend themselves with all the means available."

An Israeli officer and soldier were killed and one soldier was feared kidnapped in the attack on an army outpost near the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Two Palestinian fighters were also killed in the assault.

The assault occurred at about 5:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) when about eight Palestinian militants reached the army post through a tunnel and fired anti-tank rockets at the unit protecting the Kerem Shalom crossing point, a military source said.

Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees denied any knowledge of the kidnapped soldier.

"We do not have any knowledge of a kidnapped soldier," said Masry. "This is a matter connected to the military apparatus. As the political wing we don't have knowledge of this."

"We do not have a kidnapped soldier nor do we have the body of a soldier," added Abu Mujahid, a spokesman for the PRC.

Mujahid said the attack was also in response to this month's killing of PRC leader Jamal Abu Samhadana in an Israeli air strike.

Israel vowed to avenge any harm done to the soldier, identified as 20-year-old Gilad Shavit.
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It was the largest attack in the volatile border area since Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the impoverished coastal strip last summer, ending a 38-year occupation.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz vowed a strong Israeli retaliation if Shavit were not released unharmed.

"We will take revenge against anyone who injures the soldier, including their leaders," Peretz told reporters.

Shavit's bloodstained bulletproof vest was found not far from the scene of the attack, a military source said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Abbas and the Hamas-led Palestinian government for the attack.

Israel tanks, troops and Apache combat helicopters stormed into southern Gaza in response to search for the missing soldier and investigate the tunnel used by the attackers.

"This attack was carried out and spearheaded by senior members of the Hamas and authorized by the party's leadership," an army spokesman told AFP. "The [army] holds the Palestinian Authority and the democratically elected Hamas government responsible for the attack and the fate of the missing soldier."

Abbas, meanwhile, locked in talks with Hamas aimed at ending deadly political feuding between the rival Palestinian factions, condemned the attack.

"We have always warned against the danger of certain groups or factions leaving the national consensus and carrying out operations for which the Palestinian people will always have to pay the price," the president said in a statement.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged Abbas to act swiftly to release the soldier.

"This is an opportunity for Abu Mazen (Abbas) to prove how serious his intentions are. Israel expects him to act immediately to return the kidnapped soldier to Israel and he has the necessary military means to do so," she said. The latest flare-up came as Hamas and Fatah are engaged in talks aimed at halting a deadly power struggle.

In the attack, militants tossed hand grenades into one tank, killing an officer and the soldier, and wounding four others.

At the same time, Palestinians fired a salvo of homemade rockets from the northern Gaza Strip against neighboring Israeli areas. - Agencies

Source: dailystar.com.lb

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