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News Updates	Tue., December 07, 2004 Kislev 24, 5765	Israel Time: 17:19 (GMT+2)

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Last Update: 07/12/2004 17:19

IDF soldier killed in Gaza; Hamas: Troops walked into trap

By Haaretz Service and Agencies

An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed and four others were wounded in a pre-dawn attack Tuesday, in a bomb blast set off by Hamas militants northwest of the Karni Crossing in the central Gaza Strip.

Hamas later said that it had set up the attack by passing false intelligence through a known informant.

The soldier was identified as Staff Sergeant Nadav Kudinsky, 20, of Kiryat Gat. He was laid to rest Tuesday afternoon at the cemetery in his hometown.

The four soldiers were wounded - two moderately and two lightly - in an ensuing gunbattle as they moved to extricate their comrade. The two who sustained moderate wounds were evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, sources said. One of the soldiers who was lightly wounded was taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

According to Israel Radio, Hamas announced at a press conference Tuesday that it had lured the soldiers to the scene of the bombing by feeding misleading information through a Palestinian known to be an informant for the Shin Bet security service. The army was told that senior Hamas officials wanted by Israel were in the area, the group said.

The attack comes after several weeks of relative calm in the Strip, following the death of Yasser Arafat.

Military censors allowed details of Kudinsky's death to be released only after his family had been informed.

Hours later, an Israel Air Force helicopter fired a missile at armed Palestinians in the same area, killing a member of Islamic Jihad. The IDF said the militant was involved in the predawn attack on troops. Agence France Presse reported an IAF unmanned aircraft fired at a target in Gaza City, killing another Jihad militant.

Hamas also reported Tuesday afternoon that it had lost two of its members. The militant group said that the two had not returned after the gunbattle with IDF troops earlier in the day and that they were presumed to have been killed.

The initial blast occurred as infantry soldiers from the Golani Brigade were searching an area several hundred meters from the Israel-Gaza border fence for weapons and militants.

The badly wounded Kudinsky, who served in the "Oketz" dog-handling unit, was hit by the bomb as he searched a booby-trapped chicken coop. Both Kudinsky and his dog died before his comrades managed to pinpoint their location.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had planted roadside bombs and land mines in the coop and detonated them as the soldiers approached.

Muasher al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman, said the attack was a "natural response to the continuous Israeli crimes against our people and against our fighters."

At least seven Palestinians were also wounded in the gun battle that followed the bomb blast. According to one report, three of them, including a 14-year-old boy, died of their wounds.

The pre-dawn blast triggered a prolonged gunbattle, and the IDF quickly moved additional forces into the area. By midmorning, two tanks and three bulldozers pushed through an open field roughly 200 meters from a residential area in the Sajaiyeh neighborhood.

Dozens of Palestinian children gathered to watch the standoff, occasionally throwing stones at the Israeli vehicles. Palestinian gunmen took cover inside other chicken coops and behind old cars scattered in the area, sporadically exchanging fire with troops. At one point, militants fired a rocket that exploded near an IDF tank, causing no damage.

Central Gaza residents reported hearing a loud explosion before dawn, which they said was followed by an exchange of fire between IDF troops and militants.

The IDF later deployed helicopter gunships which opened machinegun fire at militant targets in the area, they said.

In a separate incident Tuesday morning, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an IDF outpost near Neveh Dekalim in the southern Gaza Strip. There were no Israeli casualties and troops returned fire.

Staff Sergeant Nadav Kudinsky, 20, of the IDF's dog-handling unit, was killed Tuesday with his dog in the Gaza Strip. (Limor Edri)

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