As Israel strikes Gaza camp, details emerge in car bombs

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at Palestinian gunmen in the Jebaliya refugee camp after nightfall Sunday, killing one and wounding seven, in the second airstrike of the day.

Meanwhile, Egyptian security officials said a Bedouin tribesman has confessed to selling explosives that might have been used in three deadly car bombings targeting Israeli tourists. They also said investigators were looking into the possibility of Palestinian involvement.

The Bedouin said the buyers, whom he could not identify, told him the explosives would be used in the Palestinian territories, the Associated Press reported, quoting an Egyptian investigator who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In Gaza, Palestinian security officials said the target of the missile strike was a group of gunmen organizing to attack Israeli forces. They identified the dead man as a 20-year-old activist of al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a violent group with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

Israeli military sources said the second airstrike was aimed at Palestinians planting a bomb.

Large numbers of Israeli troops and tanks have been operating in northern Gaza for nearly two weeks, trying to stop militants from firing rockets at nearby Israeli towns.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged to withdraw from Gaza next year, but he faces stiff resistance from the far-right opposition and from some within his own party.

Today, Parliament reconvenes from summer recess in what could be a stormy session. Some commentators predict Sharon's minority government could be forced from office.

The main opposition Labor party has so far backed Sharon on key votes over his pullout plan, but Labor's Dalia Itzik said Sunday evening that the party's continued support should not be taken for granted.

Earlier Sunday, Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a home near a Hamas stronghold in the Jebaliya refugee camp, killing one civilian and wounding eight, including a young girl, hospital officials said.

It was not clear why the army targeted the house, which was not far from the Kholfa Mosque, a Hamas power base. The army did not comment.

The strike caused extensive damage to nearby homes and stores, witnesses said.

In the latest Israeli operation, 97 Palestinians have been killed. Almost half were civilians, and 18 were age 16 and under, Palestinian officials said.

The offensive began Sept. 29 and was expanded after militants launched a homemade rocket into the Israeli town of Sderot, killing two children, later that day. The raid was intended to stop militants from launching the rockets into Israel, though the attacks have continued.

In last week's bombings in Egypt, three car bombs, each packed with 440 pounds of explosives, exploded Thursday night: one at the Taba Hilton just south of the Egypt-Israel border and two at a Red Sea town of beach bungalows, Ras Shitan, 35 miles to the south.

Israeli Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh, head of the Israeli army home front command, said in addition to the Isuzu pickup truck that exploded at the Taba hotel, a suicide bomber inside detonated another bomb.

Egypt has put the death toll at 34. Naveh, speaking in Taba, said at least 32 bodies had been found, plus body parts that may include the remains of others. The dead included Egyptians, Israelis, Italians, a Russian woman and others from the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe.

Israeli rescue officials said 12 Israelis have been positively identified among the dead and a few more Israelis were still unaccounted for. It was not immediately clear whether more Egyptians or other nationals were still missing.

Egyptian security officials said some of dozens of Bedouins detained for questioning after the car bombings in Taba and Ras Shitan have been cooperating with authorities and have provided valuable information about explosives. Sinai is inhabited by about 10 seminomadic Bedouin tribes, whose population is estimated at about 4,000.

On Sunday night, one of three previously unknown groups that claimed responsibility for the bombings posted an Internet statement saying it was solely responsible and warning of more attacks against "the despotic government in Egypt" and against the Israeli embassies in Egypt and Jordan.

There was no way of verifying the claim by the Brigades of the Martyr Abdullah Azzam, which said it was affiliated with al-Qaida.

Israeli rescue crews, meanwhile, finished their work at the shattered Taba Hilton and went home Sunday evening, leaving Egyptian civil defense officers to clear the rubble with axes and sledgehammers under generator-powered floodlights.

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