HIGHLIGHTS: FBI Identifies Assailant as Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, an Egyptian||FBI Won't Jump to Conclusions But Israel Describes Attack as 'Terrorist' Until Proven Otherwise||Aqsa Brigades Vows to Avenge Assassinated Activists, Jehad al-A'marin, & Wael al-Namara ||Israeli Occupation Army Chief Says His Troops to Remain in Re-occupied Palestinian Cities for Months|| STORY: Israel said on Friday the naming of an Egyptian as the gunman who attacked its El Al airlines counter at Los Angeles International Airport strengthened its belief the shooting was a "terrorist attack." The FBI, identifying the assailant as Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, 41, an Egyptian native and a U.S. resident since 1992, said it did not want to jump to conclusions about Thursday's events. (Read photo caption)

But Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel Radio: "We said it last night and I'm saying it now -- we are assuming it was a terrorist attack until it is proven otherwise."

Sneh said the latest information from the United States "has not pushed us away from the (assumption) it was terrorism."

The gunman killed two people before being tackled by an unarmed El Al sky marshal waiting to board the flight to Toronto and Tel Aviv, said Israel Radio's military affairs reporter, who is briefed regularly by Israeli security officials.

The incident occurred amid a U.S. security alert on the first American independence day since the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

El Al, plagued by Palestinian attacks in the 1970s, became the world's most security conscious airline with sky marshals, pre-boarding Interpol computer checks of ticket-holders and intensive questioning of passengers during check-in.

GAZA ASSASSINATION

Thousands of kilometers away from the drama in Los Angeles, a car bomb killed two leading Palestinian Resistance men in the Gaza Strip in an attack their comrades called an assassination by Israel.

Palestinian witnesses said they saw a helicopter overhead, speculating it triggered the bomb that killed Jehad al-A'marin, 45, a top leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and one of its members, Wael al-Namara. The occupation army declined to comment.

Thousands of mourners chanted "Death to Israel" and vowed to avenge A'marin's death during a funeral march in the Gaza Strip in which masked men fired from automatic rifles into the air.

ISRAELI OCCUPATION ARMY CHIEF SAYS HIS TROOPS TO REMAIN FOR MONTHS IN PALESTINIAN CITIES

Israeli army chief Shaul Mofaz, in a newspaper interview published on Friday, said Israeli forces were likely to remain for months in the seven West Bank cities they reoccupied after back-to-back suicide bombings killed 26 Israelis last month.

PHOTO CAPTION

A photograph issued by the FBI to television stations July 5, 2002 shows a man they identified as Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, who opened fire and killed two people at the ticket counter of Israel's El Al airlines at Los Angeles International Airport on July 4. Hadayet, 41, an Egyptian native, was a resident in the United States since 1992. Three people, including the gunman, were left dead and five were injured in the attack, which Israeli officials said bore all the signs of a terror attack, but which the FBI and police initially said appeared to be 'an isolated incident. (Reuters - Handout)
- Jul 05 10:53 AM