MIDDLE EAST: In a second assassination strike in just five days, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car travelling in the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing three members of the military wing of the militant Islamic Hamas group.
Witnesses said at least two missiles incinerated the car carrying the Hamas men as they drove near the isolated settlement of Netzarim. Passers-by threw sand on the vehicle in an effort to douse the flames.
"We rushed to the car, trying to extinguish the fire," one witness said. "I could see two people inside who were moving their hands like they were pleading for help." The Israeli army said the three were "Hamas terrorists who were recently involved in numerous terrorist attacks on Israeli targets" and who were planning more attacks.
Hamas leaders conceded that the three were on their way to carry out an attack, but said this was a "legitimate" form of resistance to Israel's occupation. "A military response to the action will be forthcoming," vowed Mr Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a senior Hamas official in Gaza.
"Before [Prime Minister Ariel Sharon] withdraws from Gaza, he continues to carry out crimes against the Islamic movements in the Strip," he added, referring to the Israeli leader's plan to dismantle settlements in Gaza.
Mr Sharon, meanwhile, faced a fresh public storm yesterday over revelations that he had failed to disclose his one-time business ties with the father-in-law of an Israeli businessman and reserve colonel, Mr Elhanan Tennenbaum, whose release he recently negotiated with Hizbullah.
The prime minister dismissed as a "wild attack" the report in the newspaper Maariv, which said that in the 1970s he had business ties with Mr Shimon Cohen, the father-in-law of Mr Tennenbaum.
In January, Israel released 400 Arab prisoners in exchange for the release of Mr Tennenbaum and the return of the bodies of three soldiers killed by Hizbullah in October 2000. The deal was strongly criticised by public figures and politicians.
Since his return, Mr Tennenbaum has been under interrogation by Israeli security officials over his alleged involvement in illicit activity, including a drug deal that took him to Dubai, from where he was kidnapped in 2000.