US News

Terror via ‘new’ Egypt hits Israel

(
)

Palestinian gunmen sneaked across the Egypt-Israel border yesterday to launch terror attacks that killed eight Israelis — and set off violence in a volatile region that includes the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula.

At least 15 more people — including a 3-year-old child — were reported killed when Israeli and Egyptian forces crushed the gunmen and then Israeli warplanes attacked a terror hideout in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Although much of the Mideast has been convulsed in bloodshed this year, beginning with the “Arab Spring,” there had been little Palestinian-Israeli violence.

But Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Egypt has been hobbled by the turmoil that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February and had lost control of the Sinai — giving terrorists based in Gaza an area to plan and stage attacks.

“The real source of the terror is in Gaza, and we will act against them with full force and determination,” he said.

The violence erupted when a terror cell exploited the loosened security in the Sinai, slipped into southern Israel and ambushed a bus north of the resort of Eilat, wounding at least 10 people. The gunmen were armed with automatic weapons, grenades and suicide-bomb belts, according to the military.

“We heard a shot and saw a window explode. I didn’t really understand what was happening at first,” Idan Kaner told Israel’s Channel 2 TV.

“After another shot, there was chaos in the bus and everyone jumped on everyone else.”

Mortar shells and anti-tank missiles were fired across the border over the next hour. Seven of the gunmen died in a firefight with Israeli forces. Three of their bodies were rigged with explosives.

Israel also responded with an airstrike on the southern Gaza town of Rafah, killing six people, including a leader of the terrorist Popular Resistance Committees, and a 3-year-daughter of one of the group’s members, officials said.

They added that three of the dead men in Gaza had been involved in planning the earlier attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a brief TV appearance vowing to crush terrorists. “If anyone thinks the state of Israel will resign itself to this, they are wrong,” he said.

Gunfire continued on both sides of the border late into the evening, and Egypt said two of its border guards were killed and one wounded in a shootout with terrorists.

After nightfall, Israel’s “Iron Dome” anti-missile system intercepted a rocket fired by Gaza militants at the city of Ashkelon, the military said.

The Popular Resistance Committees is smaller than Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, but the two are believed to be allied.

The PRC vowed to retaliate for the retaliation. “The Zionist enemy committed a grave mistake by assassinating our leaders, and they will pay a heavy price for it,” spokesman Abu Mujahed said.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged that Sinai has become a problem.

She said yesterday’s “brutal and cowardly attacks . . . only underscores our strong concerns about the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula.” With AP, Reuters

andy.soltis@nypost.com