Israeli swoop on Rafah camp leaves 8 dead, 1000 homeless

By SHAHDI AL-KASHIF in Rafah

Israel withdrew most forces from a Gaza Strip refugee camp yesterday after a swoop on suspected arms-smuggling tunnels, using tanks and bulldozers, that left eight Palestinian dead and more than 1000 homeless.

Israeli tanks and armoured bulldozers were nowhere to be seen in the vast refugee quarter of Rafah, residents and visitors said, after three days of operations that killed three Palestinian militants and five civilians.

Israeli military sources said the Army had withdrawn about 80 per cent of the forces that ploughed into Rafah on Friday, but the remainder continued to hunt for tunnels used by Palestinian militants to slip arms in from nearby Egypt.

Residents said there had been no electricity, running water or telephone service in the teeming, cinder-block refugee camp for 48 hours after Israeli forces knocked out generators providing power to the impoverished community of 70,000.

Peter Hansen, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency serving Palestinian refugees, said between 1000 and 2000 people had been left with "nothing whatsoever".

About 120 homes or blocks of flats were flattened and dozens more severely damaged, he said.

Most of Rafah's 70,000 people live with several generations of relatives under one roof.

"I challenge Israel to prove they found tunnels in our area. They came here to destroy our life," said Issam Fusafis, 34, a newly homeless father of eight.

An Army spokesmen said three tunnels had been found and destroyed, all built under civilian houses, and five structures used to hide tunnels or fire at troops were demolished.

Other buildings might have been destroyed by proximity to shock waves from the demolitions or by rocket and grenade gunfire from militants, "most of which missed our forces".

Meanwhile, aides to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said he held a meeting of his Fatah faction that confirmed a deal to have an emergency Cabinet serve for an initial 30 days without an interior minister.

The compromise, circumventing the key issue of control of the interior ministry, appeared to put in abeyance Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie's threat to resign over Arafat's rejection of his nominee for the post, Nasser Youssef.

- REUTERS