- Title: GAZA: ISRAELI FORCES DESTROY AT LEAST 42 HOMES IN RAFAH REFUGEE CAMP
- Date: 13th October 2003
- Summary: (W1)RAFAH, GAZA (OCTOBER 11, 2003) (REUTERS) (NIGHT VIEWS) 1. SLV PALESTINIANS RUNNING IN RAFAH AREA (AUDIO GUNFIRE); MV ARMED, MASKED HAMAS MILITANTS IN RAFAH; SCU MILITANT; MV HAMAS MILITANTS CARRYING ARMS WHILE WALKING (4 SHOTS) 0.33 2. MV MEN LOADING INJURED PALESTINIAN INTO AMBULANCE 0.56 3. MV AMBULANCE ARRIVING AT HOSPITAL
- Embargoed: 28th October 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RAFAH REFUGEE CAMP, GAZA
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVA68OEH34W41KJLTS3AL89OQ6JG
- Story Text: Israeli forces destroy at least 42 homes in Rafah
refugee camp.
Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and razed dozens
of homes in a strategic Gaza Strip refugee camp on Saturday
(October 11) as the Palestinians put off naming a new
security chief to help spearhead Middle East peace moves.
Witnesses in Rafah, a camp on Gaza's border with Egypt
where militants regularly smuggle in weapons, said Israeli
forces killed a 19-year-old Palestinian and demolished 42
homes, although it was not immediately clear how many of
these were individual buildings.
A military spokesman said the dead man was armed and
that five buildings used by militants to fire on troops
were demolished as were another three used to conceal
gunrunner tunnels.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister
Ahmed Qurie met in the West Bank city of Ramallah but
failed to settle on an interior minister in charge of
security forces for their emergency cabinet formed last
week, Palestinian officials said.
The original nominee, Nasser Youssef, had angered
Arafat by declining to appear at the swearing-in ceremony
-- apparently in a demand the cabinet, whose authority
expires in a month, be ratified.
A parliamentary vote set for Thursday was cancelled.
Empowered to reform security forces and rein in
militants, the Palestinian interior minister would be key
to reviving a U.S.-backed peace "road map" that is in
tatters following a resurgence in more than three years of
Middle East violence.
Eight Palestinians five civilians and three
militants have been killed in Rafah since Thursday and
at least another 16 wounded. Human rights organisations
denounce house demolitions as collective punishment.
Israel says they are a deterrent measure. Israel has
recently stepped up military measures against a Palestinian
uprising for independence that erupted in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip in September 2000.
After an Islamic suicide bomber killed 20 people in a
northern Israeli restaurant last week, Israel bombed a camp
outside Damascus saying it was used to train Palestinian
militants.
Syria denied this, calling the camp a civilian site.
Syria said on Saturday it had the right to exercise
self-defence should Israel strike its territory again.
Israel said states harbouring "terrorists" had no right
to talk about self-defence. At least 200 masked Gaza
militants led a funeral march on Saturday for three of the
Palestinians killed in Rafah, shooting in the air and
shouting "revenge, revenge is near".
Rdainah called the Rafah operation a "war crime and
human catastrophe". Dore Gold, adviser to Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, said the raid resulted from Israel
being compelled "to do the work that the Palestinian
Authority is supposed to do".
An army spokesman said forces would stay in Rafah as
long as necessary, indicating the raid would be open-ended
unusual for Israel which has recently staged only
short-term operations in Palestinian areas.
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