Mass demolitions due in Gaza town

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Israeli forces poured into Rafah yesterday at the start of a major new operation in the flashpoint southern Gaza Strip town, as four more Palestinians were killed by soldiers in the occupied territories.

Witnesses and aid officials said Rafah residents were desperately gathering their meagre possessions, fearing the start of a mass campaign of home demolitions which was approved by Israel’s supreme court on Sunday. Palestinian security officials and local residents said a large force, including some 30 tanks and bulldozers, had entered the town’s outskirts with helicopters flying overhead for security cover.One low-flying Apache helicopter opened fire at one point to detonate a roadside bomb but there were no reports of casualties.An Israeli military source told AFP that the town was being sealed off from the rest of Gaza ahead of an operation designed to hunt down wanted Palestinian militants and seize their weapons, as well as destroy tunnels, which the military says are used to smuggle in arms from Egypt under the border.Palestinian sources said the Israeli forces had penetrated some 200 metres into the city and the road connecting Rafah to the rest of Gaza had been closed, as had the border crossing into Egypt.Israeli public radio said that the army was preparing a plan to build a deep moat along the so-called Philadelphi road through the buffer zone to prevent smugglers from using tunnels.But residents appeared convinced the operation was designed to target their homes after army chief of staff Moshe Yaalon made clear on Sunday that hundreds of what he called “empty” homes would be razed.According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees, more than 1 000 Rafah residents have already been made homeless since late last week when the army started to bulldoze homes.Residents had obtained a temporary court injunction against the demolitions but judges ruled that they could be justified on security grounds.Locals could be seen yesterday piling their clothes, beds and furniture into the back of pickup trucks and cars.Others had to make do with donkeys for transport.Many were also stockpiling rice, tinned food and bottles of water from local shops.Umm Ashraf, a 34-year-old Rafah resident, had already seen her home destroyed late last week.After staying with friends, she was now on the move again.”We have no choice but to go to take cover in the mosques or schools to sleep there,” she told AFP.UNRWA said it had prepared emergency food and shelter for some 1 600 Rafah residents in four schools.Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei, who held talks in Berlin yesterday with US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, urged Washington to pressure Israel to halt the destruction.”Abu Alaa (Qorei) asked Dr Rice and the US to intervene to stop this operation,” Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat, who attended the talks, told AFP.The demolitions have prompted widespread criticism, including from US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.Gaza has seen a major flare-up in violence in the two weeks since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Likud party rejected his plans for a pullback from the territory.Thirteen Israeli troops were killed in the Strip last week.Palestinian security sources said yesterday they had been handed the bodies of three men who had been killed by Israeli forces near Gaza City.One had been killed by a tank shell, while the others were shot while attempting to breach a security fence close to the Karni border crossing into Israel.- Nampa-AFPPalestinian security officials and local residents said a large force, including some 30 tanks and bulldozers, had entered the town’s outskirts with helicopters flying overhead for security cover.One low-flying Apache helicopter opened fire at one point to detonate a roadside bomb but there were no reports of casualties.An Israeli military source told AFP that the town was being sealed off from the rest of Gaza ahead of an operation designed to hunt down wanted Palestinian militants and seize their weapons, as well as destroy tunnels, which the military says are used to smuggle in arms from Egypt under the border.Palestinian sources said the Israeli forces had penetrated some 200 metres into the city and the road connecting Rafah to the rest of Gaza had been closed, as had the border crossing into Egypt.Israeli public radio said that the army was preparing a plan to build a deep moat along the so-called Philadelphi road through the buffer zone to prevent smugglers from using tunnels.But residents appeared convinced the operation was designed to target their homes after army chief of staff Moshe Yaalon made clear on Sunday that hundreds of what he called “empty” homes would be razed.According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees, more than 1 000 Rafah residents have already been made homeless since late last week when the army started to bulldoze homes.Residents had obtained a temporary court injunction against the demolitions but judges ruled that they could be justified on security grounds.Locals could be seen yesterday piling their clothes, beds and furniture into the back of pickup trucks and cars.Others had to make do with donkeys for transport.Many were also stockpiling rice, tinned food and bottles of water from local shops.Umm Ashraf, a 34-year-old Rafah resident, had already seen her home destroyed late last week.After staying with friends, she was now on the move again.”We have no choice but to go to take cover in the mosques or schools to sleep there,” she told AFP.UNRWA said it had prepared emergency food and shelter for some 1 600 Rafah residents in four schools.Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei, who held talks in Berlin yesterday with US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, urged Washington to pressure Israel to halt the destruction.”Abu Alaa (Qorei) asked Dr Rice and the US to intervene to stop this operation,” Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat, who attended the talks, told AFP.The demolitions have prompted widespread criticism, including from US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.Gaza has seen a major flare-up in violence in the two weeks since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Likud party rejected his plans for a pullback from the territory.Thirteen Israeli troops were killed in the Strip last week.Palestinian security sources said yesterday they had been handed the bodies of three men who had been killed by Israeli forces near Gaza City.One had been killed by a tank shell, while the others were shot while attempting to breach a security fence close to the Karni border crossing into Israel.- Nampa-AFP