Palestinian militants claimed responsibility Feb. 2 for a barrage of floating barrels filled with explosives that have been washing up on Israeli beaches. The militants said they were sending the barrels to avenge the killing of a Hamas leader in the Gulf emirate of Dubai, and pledged to send more.
Police cordoned off beaches, ordered surfers out of the water and deployed robotic bomb squads along a large swath of southern Israel’s coastline after three explosive-laden barrels washed up on shore, ready to blow up.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas and hinted at retaliation.
Abu Saed, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, a Gaza faction with close ties to Hamas, said the attack was meant to avenge the killing last month of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a veteran Hamas operative who Israeli defense officials say was involved in smuggling rockets into Gaza.
Hamas said Israeli Mossad agents ambushed al-Mabhouh in his Dubai hotel room, immobilized him with an electrical shock and strangled him to death.
Israel has refused to comment on the allegations.
Standing alongside five other gunmen in military fatigues, Abu Saed confirmed that there were many unexploded charges still in the ocean. “The Zionist enemy should expect more of these operations from the hands of the Palestinian resistance,” he said.
A joint statement from Abu Saed’s group and two other small factions — Islamic Jihad and the al Aksa Martyrs Brigade — said they sent eight bombs and detonated them by remote control. Hamas did not sign the statement.
In Jerusalem, Netanyahu accused Hamas, which rules Gaza, of being behind the operation, with support from Iran and Syria.
“We view with great severity the Hamas operation near the Gaza beach, and we will respond accordingly,” he said at a news conference with visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He did not elaborate.
On the afternoon of
Feb. 1, a barrel bomb washed up on the beach of Ashkelon, about nine miles north of Gaza. A few hours later, another one was found at Ashdod, six miles further north.
Each had about 22 pounds of explosives, police said.
The second barrel blew up as a police robot was examining it, sending the tractor-like device tumbling through the air, according to witnesses. A police bomb squad defused the other one. No one was hurt.
On Feb. 3, a third barrel washed up at Tzuk Beach in Palmachim, about 15 miles south of Tel Aviv. Sappers defused the barrel, which originated from Gaza and was laden with explosives, according to Ynetnews.com.
Maritime authorities warned sailors and fishermen to be alert to possible dangers in the waters. In Ashdod, a crane-like robot crawled along the beach, prodding suspicious objects.
The military linked the barrels to two explosions at sea Jan. 29, aimed at Israeli ships. Israeli analysts speculated that the beach barrels might have been meant for ships but floated ashore instead.
“The attack was an intended terrorist attack that failed,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. He did not refer to the Hamas threat of retaliation.
On Feb. 2, Iran joined Hamas in publicly accusing Israel of carrying out the al-Mabhouh assassination, calling it “yet another example of state-sponsored Israeli terrorism.”