12 Palestinians Killed
In Rafah Incursion
18 May, 2004
The GuardianTwelve Palestinians were killed today as the Israeli army made one of its most sweeping incursions yet into the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza.
In defiance of an international outcry, troops fanned out under cover of darkness to take vantage points in buildings as soldiers carried out house-to-house searches for militants and fought Palestinian gunmen, killing five people in street fighting.Seven Palestians were killed earlier when a helicopter gunship blasted a crowd outside a mosque.
The raid, criticised by the UN and EU after the Israeli army chief threatened to bulldoze Palestinian houses, came as the human rights group Amnesty International published a report alleging that such destruction amounted to a war crime.
It said 3,000 homes, 10% of Gaza's agricultural land and more than 226,000 trees had been destroyed in the last three years in actions that were out of all proportion to Israel's security needs.
"In the vast majority of cases, it's wanton destruction," said Donatella Rovera, a co-author of the report. "It's unnecessary, disproportionate, unjustified and deliberate."
Israel claims Rafah is run by the militant groups as a conduit for weapons from Egypt. Seven of its soldiers were killed last week as they patrolled the Philadelphi corridor, where Israel says houses close to the border are used as cover for tunnels used for smuggling.
"We know that Gaza is being run by the terrorist organisations due to the unwillingness of the Palestinian Authority to crack down on terrorism and the tunnel issue," said Major Sharon Feingold, an Israeli army spokeswoman.
"We fear Gaza is turning into a launching pad for large-calibre weapons that would target Israeli cities."
Israeli security sources said the aim of the raid was not to destroy houses but to stop weapons being smuggled from Egypt.
"The only way we will destroy homes is if we find a tunnel inside a house or if a house is being used as a shelter by terrorists to attack our forces," one source said.
Since the beginning of the intifada, more than three years ago, Israel's armoured bulldozers have destroyed 1,200 houses in Rafah and, according to the UN, made more than 12,000 people homeless - one in 10 of the population.
Deep in the Rafah camp, militants prepared ambushes and planted bombs to use against the troops before the raid began.
Hundreds of civilians, meanwhile, loaded bedding, furniture and clothes on to donkey carts and rickety trucks, fearing their homes were earmarked for destruction.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees stockpiled four schools with food and water and set up tents to take in 1,500 people.
"There is no place for me to go. I don't think I will return," said Youssef al-Jamal, removing possessions from his home in the bullet-scarred camp of 90,000 people.
The Amnesty report said most of the victims of the demolitions were among the poorest in Palestinian society, and it would be difficult for them to recover.
It also called on Palestinian officials to take "all possible measures" to stop attacks against Israelis and to keep militants from initiating armed confrontations near civilian areas.