Signs of the bloody conflagration are all around. Just a few kilometers separate the Kissufim Junction from the Katif Junction, which leads to the fortified Jewish settlements. Along the road stand tanks, armored vehicles, firing positions, new outposts. Through the firing slits, the soldiers' young eyes glisten as they follow every movement. Along this road travel Palestinians and Israelis - the latter mainly military personnel serving here and residents of the Katif settlement bloc.
Every Palestinian vehicle coming in the opposite direction increases the danger.
A Border Police officer relates that the method of attacking from a moving vehicle has yielded the assailants a significant number of successes in recent days. You have to be careful, he says. Last Saturday, a Palestinian vehicle was driving alongside a military vehicle at the Katif Junction. All of a sudden the Israeli vehicle was fired on at point blank range. The soldiers returned fire and killed the two Palestinians.