Jerusalem – Israeli troops swooped down on a West Bank hide-out Monday and shot to death a senior commander of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad and one of his top aides, according to military spokesmen and Palestinian officials.
The killing of Luai Saadi, a fugitive blamed by Israeli authorities for orchestrating attacks that killed 12 Israelis this year, drew threats of vengeance from Islamic Jihad.
The Israeli military stepped up its state of readiness, and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned that any strike by Islamic Jihad would be met with a harsh response.
In the hours after Monday’s raid, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a volley of rockets aimed at Israeli towns, but they fell harmlessly.
Also slain in the predawn Israeli attack in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm was Majid Ashkar, identified by the Israeli military as one of Saadi’s closest lieutenants in Islamic Jihad.
But illustrating the fluidity of ties among Palestinian militant groups, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade claimed Ashkar was one of its own.
The deaths were the latest episode in what has been a slow erosion of the optimistic mood that prevailed after the completion of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.
While there has been no single large outbreak of violence, recent weeks have seen a steadily growing casualty count, mostly from small-scale attacks reminiscent of the early days of the Palestinian uprising.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was on a visit to Egypt and Jordan, issued a statement describing the killings of the two men as “assassinations.” The statement said the Israeli incursion into Tulkarm threatened to “undermine … efforts to bring about calm and security.”
