At least 15 Palestinians were killed and more than 30 wounded as dozens of Israeli tanks and hundreds of troops swept through the heart of Rafah in the Gaza Strip in one of the bloodiest operations of the intifada.
Two of the victims were children, hit by bullets as they played inside their home, while a 16th Palestinian was killed when a bomb he was planting exploded.
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said that no time limit has been set for ”Operation Rainbow”, designed to smash tunnels used to smuggle in weapons from under the border with Egypt.
The Palestinian Authority riposted by accusing Israel of conducting a ”war of extermination”.
Families had earlier packed their possessions and fled their homes amid fears that the army was to raze hundreds of buildings during the operation in defiance of widespread international criticism.
Most of the fatalities were members of the three main Palestinian armed factions — Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
But two of the victims were named as 11-year-old Ahmed Mohammed al-Mughayer and his sister Asmaa (15), who were hit in the head by Israeli bullets as they played in the family’s home, witnesses and medical sources said.
Five of those killed were shot dead by Israeli troops in the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood of the camp where marksmen had taken up position on rooftops.
Another eight were killed in two separate air strikes while one militant died while trying to plant a bomb, which apparently malfunctioned.
The town’s Bilal mosque was partially damaged in one of the air strikes, and witnesses and the army said that three houses had been bulldozed.
Israeli army Chief of Staff General Moshe Yaalon justified the demolitions by claiming the houses were being used for weapons smuggling.
”We are not demolishing houses either systematically or proactively,” he told reporters. ”We took pains before the operation and are taking pains now as well so that the civilians receive everything they need.”
The streets of Rafah were largely deserted after the Israelis warned residents by loudspeaker not to leave their homes but the sound of gunfire could be heard constantly and helicopters flew at low altitudes.
Locals said that troops were conducting searches of houses throughout Tel al-Sultan.
The army had earlier completely sealed off Rafah, closing the link road with the rest of Gaza and the border with Egypt and placing its tanks on the outskirts.
”This operation, which is aimed at ending once and for all the smuggling of arms through the tunnels around Rafah, will continue until our mission is accomplished,” a senior officer said, on condition of anonymity.
Mofaz said the operation will ”last for as long as it takes”.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement saying it is ready for a fight to the death.
”Al-Qassam Brigades and all the resistance groups are determined to fight until the last drop of blood and until the last bullet,” it said.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s top adviser, Nabil Abu Rudeina, accused Israel of conducting ”a war of extermination” and said the situation is a ”humanitarian catastrophe”.
Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said Israel is guilty of ”war crimes”.
Violence also flared in the West Bank as an Al-Aqsa Brigades leader was shot dead near Jenin, while a 24-year-old militant was shot dead in clashes with troops in the northern city of Nablus.
The latest deaths brought the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, to 4 043, including 3 054 Palestinians and 918 Israelis.
Israel’s resolve to crackdown on Rafah has been stiffened by the death of 13 of its troops at the hands of militant groups in Gaza last week.
The Israeli army has since been given the green light by the Supreme Court to demolish hundreds of homes in Rafah.
Amnesty International urged Israel on Tuesday to reverse its policy of destroying Palestinian homes that has reached an ”unprecedented level”.
”In the occupied territories, demolitions are often carried out as collective punishments for Palestinian attacks or to facilitate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements,” Amnesty International said in a report.
”Both practices contravene international law and some of these acts are war crimes.”
United Nations chief Kofi Annan said Israel must halt the demolition programme in Rafah.
”I appeal to the Israeli government to stop this destruction, which is against international humanitarian law,” he told reporters.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana added his voice to the chorus of criticism, saying: ”What is taking place now in Gaza is something that we have to condemn and to condemn very strongly.” — Sapa-AFP
‘There were rockets, shells. It was war’