Palestinian Militants Kill Israeli Civilians in Gaza Attack

Palestinian gunmen today attacked a fuel depot on the Gaza border, killing two Israeli civilian workers and injuring two others as militants fired waves of mortars at the crossing post.

Israeli troops shot dead two of the attackers at the Nahal Oz fuel crossing, but two others fled back into Gaza.

Israeli soldiers and tanks crossed into Gaza and at least six Palestinians were killed shortly afterwards in Israeli strikes.

In another clash earlier in the day, an Israeli soldier and a Hamas militant were killed during an Israeli military raid into southern Gaza.

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by two extremist groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees. However, the Israeli government said it held responsible the Hamas Islamist movement, which controls the Gaza Strip.

"The Hamas attack on the fuel terminal that supplies Gaza its energy shows their total and complete disregard for the civilian population of Gaza," said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

"Unfortunately Hamas is holding hostage to its extremist and hateful agenda the civilian population of both the Gaza Strip and southern Israel."

Nahal Oz, which has been the target of attacks in the past, is the principle crossing for the delivery of fuel into Gaza. Most fuel arrives by pipeline and is then loaded into trucks, to be delivered across the Gaza Strip.

Israeli press reports said the gunmen had cut through a metal fence to enter the crossing as they launched their attack.

Plumes of smoke rose over Nahal Oz in the afternoon, and as many as 20 mortar shells were fired at the crossing during the attack.

A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said the group was not responsible, but described the attack as "heroic and courageous."

Hamas won elections more than two years ago and then seized full control of Gaza last year.

The Israeli government has imposed a tight economic blockade on the strip, which it now describes as a "hostile entity". Some food, fuel and aid deliveries are allowed in, but other imports and nearly all exports have been halted.

In January, Israel halted all fuel supplies into Gaza for several days, sharply worsening the economic crisis in the strip. Last night the Israeli cabinet minister Gideon Ezra said fuel supplies should again be halted after the attack.