more israeli atrocities

'11 killed' as Israeli bulldozers roll into Rafah
AP
18 May 2004


Israeli tanks and bulldozers moved into the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border early today as two air strikes killed 11 Palestinians and wounded 30, reflecting an Israeli decision to take control of the camp to stop arms smuggling and arrest militants.

However, an army official backed away from a plan to raze entire rows of houses to widen a border buffer zone. The decision follows withering international criticism of Israeli destruction in the Rafah camp over the past week, after Palestinians blew up an armoured vehicle, killing five soldiers assigned to find and destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels.

Israeli tanks and troops moved into the Tel Sultan neighbourhood, located away from the border, and began digging a trench to separate the quarter from the rest of the camp, witnesses said.

Soldiers were searching the sector from house to house, residents said, and at least 45 military vehicle were in the neighbourhood.

The first air strike, shortly after midnight, targeted a part of the camp next to the border, killing three and wounding seven. Doctors said at least two of the dead were militants.

Three hours later, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at Tel Sultan. Eight people were killed and 23 wounded, doctors said. Hamas said three of the dead were members of the militant group.

Palestinian security sources said two ambulances came under fire from Israeli snipers, and one was hit by three bullets. Rescue workers said the morgue at the small Rafah hospital was full, and bodies were being moved to a shop nearby.

The Israeli military said both air strikes were aimed at groups of armed militants.

The missiles from the second attack exploded near a mosque, setting part of it on fire and collapsing a wall, a witness said.

Meanwhile, large Israeli forces were positioned around the rest of the shanty town, preparing for a large-scale operation to widen a border buffer zone by tearing down houses in the camp.

Preparing for an Israeli invasion, Palestinian militants planted bombs around Rafah, residents said. A 23-year-old Palestinian was killed early today when a bomb he was assembling exploded, they said.

Broadening the Israeli buffer zone would mean bulldozing rows of houses in Rafah and making many more Palestinian refugees, who fled homes during the 1948 war over Israel's creation, homeless again. Last week Israeli forces destroyed about 100 homes, according to the United Nations.

Although senior commanders spoke of widening the buffer zone to 250 yards - almost double its present size in some places - Maj Sharon Feingold, an army spokeswoman, said: "There is no systematic plan to tear down houses." Concerning the proposal to widen the buffer zone, she said: "All these plans are options that are being considered."

She said Israeli forces would destroy houses where tunnels were found and those used by militants. She said that since April, Israel had found nine weapons-smuggling tunnels in Rafah.

The climbdown from the larger plan appeared to reflect heavy international pressure against Israel's plan to demolish dozens or even hundreds more houses to widen the patrol road.

Arab nations asked for a special session of the United Nations Security Council, and UN secretary-general Kofi Annan denounced the Israeli operation. "I appeal to the Israeli government to stop this destruction, which is against international humanitarian law," he said.
18 May 2004 19:43