World

Israel Destroys Gaza Car, 3 Dead

March 5, 2004 / 9:57 AM EST / CBS/AP

Israel helicopters shot two missiles at a car driving through the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing three people, Palestinian security sources said.

Hamas officials said two of the dead were Hamas militants, but the affiliation of the third was unknown.

Hamas has vowed revenge, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger.

"Even if the Hamas members were on their way to carry out a legitimate attack on the settlement of Netzarim, a military response to the action will be forthcoming," warned Hamas spokesman Abd al-Aziz Rantissi.

The Israeli army said in a statement the air force targeted a car carrying "three senior Hamas militants" who planned attacks against civilians in the past and were planning more attacks.

In other developments:

Israeli construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rose by a whopping 35 percent last year, reports Berger. Work began on 1,850 homes despite demands by the U.S.-backed road map peace plan for a freeze on settlement activity. Israel says it has not abided by the plan because the Palestinians have not kept their roadmap commitment to dismantle terrorist groups.

A new scandal is dogging Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. An Israeli newspaper reported that he acted improperly in negotiating the release of an Israeli businessman in a recent prisoner swap with Hezbollah guerillas. The paper said Sharon failed to disclose business ties in the 1970s with the family of Elhanan Tannenbaum, who was freed in exchange for over 400 Arab prisoners. Sharon denied the report.

The air strike demolished the Mitsubishi, which was traveling on a road used by Palestinians near the Israeli settlement of Netzarim, witnesses said.

Israeli jets were heard flying overhead shortly after two explosions were heard. Smoke billowed from the wreckage of the car and ambulances rushed to the scene.

"A missile from the sky hit the car," said Ahmed Asmat, 35, a farmer who was working in his greenhouse about 100 yards from the explosion. Intense gunfire came from the direction of the settlement, about 500 yards away, he said.

Israel's air force has routinely sent helicopter gunships and warplanes to kill Palestinian militants in pinpoint airstrikes. The last such strike came on Saturday night when a helicopter fired two missiles into a car, killing three Islamic Jihad members.

After the attack Wednesday, dozens of angry Hamas supporters tried to storm the morgue at Shifa Hospital in Gaza to identify the victims. Others at the hospital were crying, covering their faces and calling for revenge.

The white car was engulfed in flames and black smoke. It had been traveling on a sand road near the Mediterranean coast and near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim.

Screaming crowds of people threw sand onto the wreckage and beat the flames with coats and scarves to try to put out the fire.

A man leaned into the burning wreckage and used a blanket to lift out a charred, decapitated body and heaved it onto a stretcher.

"The explosion led to a huge fire in the car, I started to run with other farmers who live nearby," said a witness who gave his name only as Bashir.

Some in the crowd gathered around the car lashed out at Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

"I spit on the Palestinian Authority and those who brought them here," one person at the scene screamed.