GAZA, Palestine, June 28, 2004 (IPC + Agencies) - [Official PA website]- Palestinian resistance activists managed to detonate a huge explosive device under an Israeli military outpost in Central Gaza Strip, killing one Israeli occupying soldier and wounding five others, according to Israeli sources.

On Sunday night, Israeli media sources declared that a huge explosion went off under a military outpost near the colonial road "Kosofim", north of the city of Khan Younis.

The sources quoted Israeli military spokesperson as saying that the explosion reportedly killed only one Israeli soldier and wounded five others; one of them was in serious condition. The spokesperson added that several other soldiers were trapped under the rubble of the outpost.

In a statement, the Ezzeddin Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas movement claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, video tape distributed by the information bureau of the Ezzeddin Al Qassam Brigades clearly showed two resistance activists crawling in what appeared to be a tunnel, hauling a huge metallic object, which is believed to be the explosive charge.

The explosion came concurrent with gunfire and homemade mortar shell firing at the Israeli outpost, as Israeli armored vehicles and combat helicopters fired their machineguns intensely and randomly at the nearby houses and citizens.

Hamas movement´s spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that "all the Israeli statements about a withdrawal from Gaza Strip are due to the Palestinian resistance operations. We are completely confident that as the Hezbollah Organization managed to kick the Israeli forces out of Lebanon, the Palestinian resistance will kick them out of the Palestinian territories, and we will continue our resistance."

The targeted Israeli outpost, dubbed by the Israeli occupying forces (IOF) as "Orhan" outpost, is situated on the junction of the "Kisofim" colonial road, a road that has claimed many Palestinian homes and the dispossession of numerous families in order to build and expand it.

Such an attack came after the Israeli onslaught on Nablus in which eight Palestinians commanders including Nayef Abu Sharkh, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fateh movement in the Hosh Al Jitan neighborhood east of the old town of Nablus, and opened heavy gunfire at those who were in the house, killing the seven citizens inside. (© Copyright 2001-2004 IPC 06/28/04)