Israeli army destroys Gaza homes after bus bombings
Palestine-Israel, Military, 9/2/2004

Israeli forces Thursday blew up two Palestinian housing blocs in a Gaza refugee camp that the army said were used by Palestinian militants to launch attacks against soldiers and settlers.

Israeli forces pushed into Khan Younis refugee camp hours earlier in its biggest Palestinian raid in weeks, two days after Palestinian militants killed 16 Israelis in twin bus bombings.

Troops had surrounded 10 multiple-story apartment buildings overlooking the nearby Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim and called on all 150 Palestinian families to evacuate their homes.

The demolitions rendered dozens of Palestinians homeless.

The army said that the incursion was not in response to the bus bombings carried out by Hamas militants in the Israeli town of Beersheba.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said that there was a link between the bombings and "activity occurring in Lebanon or Syria."

ÊÊÊ Colonel Yhoshua Rinksi, commander of the operation, said the raid was aimed at stopping area militants from firing mortar bombs at nearby Jewish settlements.

Hours earlier, gunmen fired three bombs at Neve Dekalim, a frequent target of such attacks.

"The situation that the Palestinians use urban places where their civilians live and shoot toward our settlements cannot be tolerated," Rinski said.

Meantime, Israeli occupation troops besieged the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday and has launched a combing and house-to-house search campaign in the city since Tuesday night to arrest wanted Palestinian activists.

The campaign started in the wake of the double explosion at Beersheba city on Tuesday that killed 16 Israelis and injured 100 others that was carried out by two Hamas suicide bombers from Hebron.

The troops demolished the house of Ahmed Al-Qawasmi, one of the perpetrators of the double operation.

The troops arrested 19 Palestinians in the West Bank at dawn Wednesday including 12 from Hebron, five from Bethlehem, south West Bank, and two from Nablus, central West Bank.

Previous Stories:
  Sharon proposes timetable for his 'disengagement' plan   (9/1/2004)
  Increased number of Beer Sheba killing to 16, Israel seeks a way to react   (9/1/2004)
  One Israeli raid fails in assassinating two activists from Fatah   (8/31/2004)
  Ashkelon prisoners resume their strike   (8/31/2004)
  Israel plans 530 new settler homes in West Bank, sources say   (8/27/2004)
  Occupation army invades Nablus, detains leader of al-Aqsa group   (8/25/2004)

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