MIDDLE EAST 2 Israelis killed, 1 captured in attack

Israel is concentrating its efforts on the release of the captured soldier.
KIBBUTZ KEREM SHALOM, Israel (AP) -- Palestinian militants sneaked into Israel underneath a Gaza border crossing Sunday, killed two Israeli soldiers and captured another, raising the threat of an all-out conflict in Gaza just a year after Israel's pullout.
Israel, which sent ground troops into Gaza after the assault, blamed the Hamas-led government and warned that militants and their leaders will be killed if the abducted soldier is harmed. Hamas appealed for restraint.
Three Palestinian attackers were killed in the battle with Israeli forces at the crossing point where the borders of Israel, Egypt and Gaza converge.
A spokesman for the Gaza militant group believed to be holding the soldier rejected calls from Palestinian leaders for his release.
The assault spiked tensions that already are high because of daily Palestinian rocket barrages from Gaza and bloody Israeli reprisals, against the background of open enmity between Israel and the Palestinian government, headed by the Islamic militant group Hamas.
The group played a leading role in the long-planned attack, and the operation cast a shadow over talks between Hamas and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement concerning a joint program that includes implicit recognition of Israel, and Hamas' efforts to counter its image as a terrorist group and ease Western sanctions.
What happened next
After the attack, Israel closed the vital border crossings, the only way people and goods can enter or exit the territory. Previous closings have created widespread hardships.
Hamas, which recently resumed its open involvement in rocket fire on Israel, confirmed its participation in the attack. The small Popular Resistance Committees and a previously unknown group, the Islamic Army, also said they participated.
PRC leader Jamal Abu Samhadana, was killed in an Israeli airstrike two weeks ago, shortly after accepting a senior security position in the Hamas-led government. His killing was part of a rapidly escalating round of rocket barrages and counterstrikes.
Sunday's brazen pre-dawn attack was the first ground assault by Palestinian militants since Israel pulled out of Gaza last summer and the first abduction of an Israeli soldier since 1994.
Palestinians spent months digging an 800-yard tunnel starting in Gaza and stretching 300 yards into Israel.