PALI KILLED USING U.N. VEHICLE TO TRY AND KIDNAP IDF SOLDIER

Palestinian gunmen storm Israeli border (MSNBC)
One raider killed in failed attempt to kidnap soldier at Gaza crossing

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian gunmen broke through Israel’s heavily-fortified Gaza border and battled troops inside Israel for about two hours Saturday in a failed attempt to abduct an Israeli soldier. One of the raiders was killed.

It was the first cross-border incursion since militants killed two soldiers and abducted a third a year ago.

The Israel military said troops shot dead one of the raiders. Palestinians said another three militants escaped back to Gaza unharmed.

The Islamic Jihad group said it carried out Saturday’s attack, near the Kissufim crossing between Gaza and Israel, along with the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.

“The aim of the operation was to withdraw with the soldier in captivity,” said Abu Ahmed, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad. “But the participation of Israeli helicopters prevented that.”

On June 25 last year Palestinian militants killed two soldiers and snatched one near the Kerem Shalom frontier post, about 15 miles south of the site of Saturday’s shootout. The abducted soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, is still missing.

ACCORDING TO THE NYT, THE TERRORISTS USED A U.N. VEHICLE IN THE ATTACK.

The gunmen used an armored jeep with United Nations markings to ram the border post, according to Abu Ali, a spokesman for the Al Aksa brigades. The Israeli Army, which has the jeep, said it was marked “TV,” the standard way that all the press signify their vehicles.

See also Palestinians Blasted for Media Disguise - Matti Friedman
Journalists on Sunday condemned Palestinian militants for using a television truck to disguise their assault on an Israeli military position, saying the new tactic would make their jobs significantly more dangerous. In Saturday's attack, four gunmen drove a white jeep with press markings in English and Arabic to a fence on the Gaza-Israel border, then broke through on foot and attacked a guard tower in a failed attempt to capture a soldier. Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Ahmad denied the group had put the press markings on the jeep, but AP photos clearly show the markings on the jeep when the attack was underway. (AP/Guardian-UK)