A 50-kilogram car bomb exploded at the Kisufim checkpoint between Kibbutz Sa\'ad and Gaza this morning, killing only the terrorist driver. Ezra Haidu from Moshav Katif told Arutz-7 today what he saw:
\"I was driving nearby when suddenly I heard a tremendous explosion. I didn\'t realize what it was, and until I could slow down and stop, I was only about 10 meters away from the explosion; soon, a second explosion occurred, apparently the remnants of an explosive that hadn\'t yet blown up. A Border Guard jeep then showed up and told us to go back. I realized that I had been about 50 meters away from the car when it exploded; if it had not exploded, it would have met me at the junction, but thank G-d, that did not happen. There were a few other cars behind me...\" Army sources reported that an apparent \"work accident\" caused the 50-kilogram bomb to explode prematurely. Gush Katif residents say that the Kisufim road had been closed for months to Arab traffic, but was opened to them recently following the Tenet agreement. Kisufim is generally the site of lively Jewish traffic to and from Gush Katif.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, and Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin said that many more Arabs are willing to commit suicide attacks. The PA announced that it had arrested one person in connection with the attack, but government sources charged that Israel had provided advance information on the car bomb to the PA, but the PA did nothing to thwart the attack.
Not far away, Palestinians fired two mortar shells at the town of Morag, again hurting no one. Arabs opened fire at an army post near Beit El; no one was hurt, and IDF soldiers did not return fire. Later today, Arabs opened fire at an IDF force south of Bethlehem; the soldiers returned fire. An 18-year-old Israeli girl was shot in the shoulder by Palestinian gunmen last night, and was listed in moderate condition. She was traveling in a bus that came under fire near Shilo, north of Ramallah and Ofrah.
Car-bomb warnings at Ben-Gurion International Airport caused major traffic disruptions on the highways in the vicinity of the airport this afternoon. Beefed-up security precautions at the airport entrances were to blame for the traffic jams, and passengers have been asked to arrive earlier than planned for their flights.
\"I was driving nearby when suddenly I heard a tremendous explosion. I didn\'t realize what it was, and until I could slow down and stop, I was only about 10 meters away from the explosion; soon, a second explosion occurred, apparently the remnants of an explosive that hadn\'t yet blown up. A Border Guard jeep then showed up and told us to go back. I realized that I had been about 50 meters away from the car when it exploded; if it had not exploded, it would have met me at the junction, but thank G-d, that did not happen. There were a few other cars behind me...\" Army sources reported that an apparent \"work accident\" caused the 50-kilogram bomb to explode prematurely. Gush Katif residents say that the Kisufim road had been closed for months to Arab traffic, but was opened to them recently following the Tenet agreement. Kisufim is generally the site of lively Jewish traffic to and from Gush Katif.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, and Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin said that many more Arabs are willing to commit suicide attacks. The PA announced that it had arrested one person in connection with the attack, but government sources charged that Israel had provided advance information on the car bomb to the PA, but the PA did nothing to thwart the attack.
Not far away, Palestinians fired two mortar shells at the town of Morag, again hurting no one. Arabs opened fire at an army post near Beit El; no one was hurt, and IDF soldiers did not return fire. Later today, Arabs opened fire at an IDF force south of Bethlehem; the soldiers returned fire. An 18-year-old Israeli girl was shot in the shoulder by Palestinian gunmen last night, and was listed in moderate condition. She was traveling in a bus that came under fire near Shilo, north of Ramallah and Ofrah.
Car-bomb warnings at Ben-Gurion International Airport caused major traffic disruptions on the highways in the vicinity of the airport this afternoon. Beefed-up security precautions at the airport entrances were to blame for the traffic jams, and passengers have been asked to arrive earlier than planned for their flights.