Haaretz, Up to 2,000 Palestinians have been made homeless in the most recent operation by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip, a senior United Nations official said Sunday.
Peter Hansen, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian
refugees, said that “many houses have been completely demolished” during the three-day raid by IDF troops hunting for tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into the Strip.
The IDF said Saturday that three tunnels had been located and destroyed, but warned Sunday that the operation would continue, despite the withdrawal of most of the troops in the early hours, for as long as the tunnels were being
used.
IDF sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said over the weekend that Israel had intelligence warnings that Palestinians were planning to use tunnels under the Egyptian
border to smuggle in weapons that could have a strategic impact on the three-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the Egyptians were not taking steps to stop them.
Sources said the smuggled weaponry may include Stinger shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles that could shoot down the attack helicopters Israel often uses in operations in Gaza.
Stinger missiles could also threaten Israel Air Force warplanes or civilian aircraft flying close to the Gaza Strip.
Also, the sources said, the Palestinians were trying to smuggle Katyusha rockets, which have the range to hit Israeli cities near the Strip. During the conflict, the Palestinians have been aiming homemade mortars and rockets at Israeli towns and settlements.
Three Qassams hit Negev
Three Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the western Negev area of Israel on
Sunday.
Two of the rockets, which were fired in the afternoon, landed near a kibbutz. There were no injuries, but damage was caused to a factory, Army Radio reported.
Early Sunday morning, Palestinians fired a Qassam rocket at the town of Sderot, Israel Radio reported. No injuries were reported, but a road was damaged.
Late Saturday night, troops thwarted an attempted terror attack when they discovered three Palestinian militants trying to place a bomb in the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Morag.
The troops opened fire shortly before midnight, killing one of the men. Troops then chased away the other two would-be terrorists. The militant's body was found a short time later
near three explosive devices which sappers then neutralized.
Troops met with much opposition during the Rafah operation and IDF officers expressed surprise at the extent of the militants' firepower, including the hundreds of bombs, grenades and anti-tank missiles Palestinians threw at the
troops, Israel Radio reported.
Eight Palestinians, including a nine-year-old and a 12-year-old, were killed during the operation. A spokesman for the IDF said that a 19-year-old Palestinian killed on Saturday had been armed.
At least 70 Palestinians were reported wounded in the operation, most when a helicopter fired a missile at a crowd. The IDF said the missile targeted a group of gunmen.
Israeli forces also demolished five buildings used by militants to fire on troops, the military spokesman said. He also said another three buildings used to conceal gunrunner tunnels were demolished as well.
Witnesses in Rafah said IDF troops demolished 42 homes, although it was not immediately clear how many of these were individual buildings.
“It could be that Palestinian fire also caused structural damage,” the spokesman said, referring to heavy resistance Israeli troops encountered when they stormed Rafah at daybreak Friday in the deepest raid there for six
months.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, called the operation a “war crime and a human tragedy.”
The funerals of the Palestinian casualties took place over the weekend, during which masked men called for revenge and fired their weapons in the air. The dead were identified as: Ibrahim Krinawi, 8; Sami Salah, 12; Mabruk Juda, 18 and
Yihyeh Sharif, 19; Nader Abu Taha, 22; Mohammed Abd al Waheb, 23; Mohammed Yunis, 28 and Ala Mansour, 23.
Palestinian sources said that medical professionals were also hurt in operation, and that the IDF initially prevented ambulances from arriving at the area of the fighting. They said that later on ambulances were allowed to
evacuate the wounded into a makeshift clinic.
Rafah residents said troops seized a strip of land 150 meters deep into the camp, a known militant stronghold, and soldiers took positions on roof tops.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday condemned the Rafah raid, saying that Israel's “disproportionate use of force in densely populated areas is not compatible with
international humanitarian law.” He called on both sides in the conflict “to take every measure to avoid harming innocent civilians.”
