A Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a truck loaded with explosives as he tried to ram a crucial crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel early today.
The explosion, which could be heard miles away, came as a Gaza's Hamas rulers reported that the latest Egyptian efforts to pry a truce from Israel and Gaza militants had failed.
A spokesman for Islamic Jihad said the 23-year-old militant drove a pickup truck filled with four tons of explosives toward the Erez crossing in northern Gaza.
A damaged section of a concrete wall at the Erez border crossing, between Israel and the Gaza Strip
He described the attack as a "successful martyrdom operation" that was meant to "send a message" to Israel that if it doesn't accept a truce "Gaza is not going to be a place where you will enjoy stability."
The truck exploded on the Gaza side of the border, blowing a hole in a pedestrian passageway leading out of the terminal and into Gaza. No pedestrians were at the crossing at the time because it was early, and the Israeli military said no soldiers were wounded. The explosion shattered windows in Netiv Haasara, an Israeli community across the border.
Shortly after the attack, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a nearby jeep similar to the kind often used militants and the security forces of Hamas, a Hamas security official said. There were no casualties in the missile strike, he said.
The Erez crossing will be closed until the damage can be repaired, said Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner. Erez is the main crossing point for international aid workers and Palestinians traveling to Israel for medical treatment, he said, and thus "the main victims of this attack are the Palestinians themselves."