Suicide bomber strikes Israeli city as a call to unity for Palestinians
A PALESTINIAN suicide bomber blew himself up in the Israeli resort city of Eilat yesterday, killing himself and three others in what militants said was a message to warring factions to focus their energies on attacking Israeli targets rather than killing each other.
But the fighting in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas, which has killed more than 30 since Thursday, continued yesterday, leaving four dead despite a Saudi call for negotiations in Mecca to end the clashes.
In Eilat, the bomber struck at 9:40am, blowing himself up inside a bakery. The Islamic Jihad and the al-Aksa Brigades that are affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement claimed joint responsibility.
The bomber was identified as Mohammed Saksak, 20, from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya.
Benny Mazkini , an Eilat resident told reporters that he saw “a man wearing a coat with a black backpack crossing the street. I wondered ‘what is a man doing wearing a coat on a warm day in Eilat?’. Fifteen minutes later I heard a huge blast. I understood it was a suicide bombing.”
Police said the bomb contained 15 kilograms of explosives.
It was the first suicide bombing since an attack last April at a Tel Aviv restaurant killed twelve people, and the second since Hamas took power last year. Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, termed the bombing a natural response to Israeli military policy. “As long as there is occupation, resistance is legitimate,” he said, adding that Fatah should “turn its weaponry against the occupation, not Hamas.”
An Islamic Jihad website said: “The operation sends a clear message to the Palestinian rivals: stop the internal fighting and point the weapons against the occupation that is harming the Palestinian people.” But an IJ statement read out in Gaza said the bombing was a response to “Israeli attempts to defile the al-Aksa mosque” a reference to Israeli archeological excavations near the holy site. Israeli officials say the shrine is not being harmed
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said a civilian was killed in the Tel el-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, a flashpoint of fighting between the Preventive Security Force loyal to Fatah and the Executive Force of Hamas. Unknown gunmen killed a captain in General Intelligence, another security force loyal to Fatah, a spokesman for PCHR said.
Two members of the Executive Force were killed and two others wounded in clashes overnight, he added.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, condemned the Eilat suicide attack and also called for a halt to the Palestinian in-fighting.
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