JERUSALEM — A Palestinian roadside bomb killed an Israeli soldier patrolling the border with Gaza on Tuesday, and Israel responded with airstrikes on the smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border as violence undermined a cease- fire on the eve of a visit by a U.S. envoy.
Israel briefly sent tanks and bulldozers across the border into Gaza after its soldier was killed and three others were wounded in the bombing. Hamas said one Israeli airstrike wounded one of its militants as he rode a motorcycle in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.
It was the worst bloodshed since the sides declared the cease-fire on Jan. 18 to end a three-week Israeli offensive.
Since withdrawing its troops, Israel has threatened to retaliate hard for any violations of the informal truce.
“We will respond, but there is no point in elaborating,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during a trip to a military base in southern Israel. Later, he convened an emergency meeting of top security officials. He spoke with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after the meeting, but no details were released.
Olmert later hinted that a much tougher response could soon follow, telling a gathering of senior civil servants that Israel is not bound by any formal cease-fire with Hamas.
“Israel’s response has yet to come,” he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but Ramattan, a Palestinian news agency, later released a video of the roadside bombing allegedly filmed by militants it did not identify.
The violence cast a shadow over the arrival of George Mitchell, President Barack Obama’s special Mideast envoy. Mitchell arrived in Egypt on Tuesday and was set to visit Israel today for three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on how to get stalled peace efforts back on track. Mitchell is expected to meet Olmert, top security officials and the pro-Western Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Mitchell has no plans to meet with Hamas, which the U.S., Israel and European Union consider a terrorist group.
