One Israeli civilian is dead and 3 IDF soldiers lay wounded in a terror attack in southern Gush Katif. Abu Mazen was elected as PA leader on Sunday, with many heralding his opposition to terror.

The attack occurred in the community of Morag, which is located in a small enclave surrounded on three sides by PA-controlled areas in southern Gush Katif. An IDF vehicle driving near the hothouses of Morag drove over a large explosive at approximately 9:30 this morning (Wednesday). At the same time, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire. All four passengers, including an IDF officer, were hit, and the civilian - Gideon Rivlin of Ganei Tal - later died of his wounds. A helicopter flew the wounded to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva. Army forces are combing the area, and Zaka volunteers are at the site.

Rivlin, 51, arrived in Gush Katif 27 years ago, and is a founding member of Ganei Tal. He is survived by his wife Simcha and their four sons and one daughter. His funeral procession will depart from Ganei Tal this evening to the Gush Katif cemetery.

The attack is just another fatal milestone in the continuing onslaught of terror activity against the Jews of Gush Katif over the past weeks and months. Terrorists fired a mortar shell at N’vei Dekalim last night, three Kassam rockets this morning at Gush Katif neighborhoods, and later, an anti-tank rocket at an IDF patrol near Ganei Tal.

The Katif.net website issued an announcement this morning following the lethal attack \u2013 reminiscent of desperate messages pleading for help from world Jewry in previous decades:

“Until when, until when, will the government stand idly by and not take strong action. We sit here weeping, unbelieving. Until when, until when, will the Cabinet ministers and Knesset Members sit in their ivory tower and do nothing against all the mortar shells and Kassam rockets and bombs that keep on exploding in Gush Katif. What price will we have to pay for someone to wake up and understand that the residents of Gush Katif have been living in a war for almost four and a half years already, while the government behaves towards us as if we were a public enemy - and to the terrorists who kill us it relates with understanding and compassion. We are people who desire life, and we are not willing to sit and absorb all this shooting and bombing without a government response.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 13th, 2005 and is filed under hotnews.