An Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire was in tatters yesterday after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israelis and wounded about 15 during a surprise raid into a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened a meeting of his inner cabinet to urgently review the situation a week into a truce plan battered by the deaths of 20 Palestinians, two Israelis, a car bomb in Jerusalem and many shooting attacks.
After a three-hour meeting, Sharon issued a statement calling the attack "severe," holding the Palestinian Authority and President Yasser Arafat responsible "for the prevention of terrorist activities carried out by terrorists operating in its territory and emerging from it."
The statement said the Israeli Army would take all measures needed to protect Israeli citizens, and called on the United States and the international community to declare Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah terrorist organizations.
Meanwhile, an Israeli tank shell killed at least five Palestinians yesterday during an Israeli incursion into the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.
Israel launched the operation after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israelis during a raid late on Tuesday on a Jewish settlement in the area. Israeli soldiers killed the two attackers.
The violence left in tatters a ceasefire which the United States had sought in a bid to attract Arab and Islamic countries into a global alliance against terror, after last month's attacks in New York and Washington.
( China Daily 10/04/2001)
