After a day-long siege by Israeli troops at a nondescript house in the Arab town of Taibe yesterday, at least three alleged Hamas militants were dead and officials were expressing relief at foiling what they said were plans for a wave of simultaneous suicide attacks across Israel.
The Israeli forces surrounded the house in central Taibe, just inside the border with the West Bank, before dawn, acting on a tip that a Hamas gang was inside. When the soldiers ordered occupants out of the building, one man emerged and was arrested. Then two other men came out, carrying a suitcase that turned out to be filled with explosives. Shots were exchanged, the case exploded, the two men were killed, and one Israeli soldier had part of his leg blown off.
Throughout the rest of the day, troops maintained the siege, certain that other gang members were still inside. Late yesterday afternoon, as they began demolishing the building, another man was spotted, further shots rang out, there was another explosion and large sections of the house collapsed. The Israeli police chief, Mr Yehuda Wilk, said he expected one or two more bodies to be found today.
Following interrogation of the captured man, Israeli sources said the gang members had come from Gaza and planned to carry out four or five simultaneous suicide bombings in Israel. The sources said they feared the planned attacks marked the start of a new bombing campaign by Hamas, which has carried out a series of suicide attacks in Israel in recent years to try and derail Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
In Gaza the Hamas leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, said that "operations" by the military wing of Hamas would "continue until we reach our goal".