Monday August 27, 2001 |

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli F-16 warplanes fired missiles and destroyed Palestinian security buildings in three Palestinian towns early yesterday in a series of retaliatory strikes following the deaths of five Israelis a day earlier.

The missiles caused a thundering explosion and sent plumes of black smoke rising from the police headquarters in the center of Gaza City at around 5 a.m. At least three Palestinian policemen were injured, hospital doctors said.

The warplanes also blasted the Military Intelligence offices in Deir el-Balah, south of Gaza City, and police headquarters in Salfit, in the West Bank, the Israeli military said.

The planes scored direct hits in all three attacks, the military added.

The air strikes came a day after Palestinian militants killed three Israeli soldiers in a daring raid on an army outpost in the southern Gaza Strip. Also, an Israeli couple was shot dead and a third person was critically injured with a gunshot to his head when their car was ambushed by gunmen north of Jerusalem, hospital officials said. The army had earlier reported three killed in the ambush.

"Whether attacking Israeli soldiers in Gaza or attacking Israeli civilians on roads near Jerusalem, Yasser Arafat is escalating his war of terrorism against the state of Israel," said Israeli government spokesman Dore Gold.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had said that Israeli forces would respond swiftly to Palestinian attacks, and the army focused its attention on Rafah, a town in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt. The town is only a few miles from the Israeli military outpost in Marganit that came under assault early Saturday.

The Israelis briefly took over several small Palestinian security outposts, and bulldozers tore down the headquarters of Palestinian Public Security, according to residents and Rafah's Governor Majid al-Ajha.

The Israeli tanks and armored vehicles came under heavy Palestinian gunfire, and shot back with shells and machine guns, they added. The police sergeant, Alla Abu Bakra, was killed by shrapnel, and at least two more Palestinians were wounded, hospital doctors said.

At mosques in Rafah, calls went out over the loudspeakers urging residents to join a "holy war" against the Israeli forces.

"The people of Rafah are defending the city in order to teach the Israelis a lesson," said al-Ajha.

At around 3 a.m. yesterday, the Israeli forces began withdrawing from Rafah, residents and officials said.

On the eastern edge of Gaza City, Israeli forces flattened two Palestinian police outposts, Palestinian security sources said. At least a half-dozen Israeli helicopters hovered near Arafat's headquarters in Gaza City, but eventually left without firing.

The Israeli operations in Gaza appeared to be in keeping with previous incursions. In those instances, the Israelis destroyed Palestinian security offices, and then pulled out after only a few hours.

The Israeli military said the incursion was a response to the attack on its military post Saturday.

The Israelis say they hold Arafat and his security forces responsible for the attacks against Israeli targets. They say that Arafat has failed to rein in Palestinian militants, and that members of the security forces have participated in shootings.

On Saturday night, an Israeli man and his wife were killed when their car was ambushed by gunmen on a road just north of Jerusalem, near the West Bank settlement of Modiin, the Israeli army said.

Another man in the car was hit in the head and critically wounded, and the couple's children were lightly wounded, Israeli officials said.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, made up of militants linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility.