More Palestinian homes hit

2004-05-17 09:00

Gaza City - Israeli helicopter gunships renewed their attacks on Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip early on Monday after the army was given the green light to step up its widely criticised policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in the area.

According to witnesses, at least two Israeli helicopters fired five missiles at a building in Gaza City, completely destroying an office belonging to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

The strike also destroyed the offices of the secular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the same building in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood, they said.

Both offices were located on the same floor of the three-storey building and the floor above it also suffered heavy damage.

Initial reports said one person was lightly injured in the strike.

Israeli military sources said hours earlier that troops in Gaza had shot and either killed or injured three Palestinians attempting to cross the border fence into Israel.

The Israeli supreme court on Sunday rejected an appeal by Palestinians against the army's plan to destroy hundreds more homes in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, said judicial sources.

Judges ruled the army could continue its demolitions, which it said have been carried out for justifiable "operational reasons" and were not a form of collective punishment.

Rafah residents were seeking a freeze to the demolition campaign, which according to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), has already left more than 1 000 people homeless since late last week.

Palestinians are outraged

The Palestinians reacted furiously to the verdict, with veteran leader Yasser Arafat accusing Israel of continuing its "cruel aggression" against his people and the cabinet accusing it of embarking on "ethnic cleansing".

The Israeli army also plans to build a vast security trench along the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip.

Israel's private Channel 2 television said the army is planning the construction of an expansive security trench in Rafah that would be 60 to 80m wide and 20m deep.

Between the security trench and the nearest Palestinian houses, which face the border, would be a clear 150-metre stretch of ground. Several bridges would cross the trench to allow soldiers access to Palestinian residential areas.

There was no confirmation of the report from the army or defence ministry.

Gulf Arab leaders called on the international community on Sunday to force Israel to stop its demolitions of Palestinian homes.

The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) urged the international community "to strive to make Israel immediately cease the demolition of Palestinian homes," secretary general Abderrahman al-Attiyah said in a statement at the end of a one-day consultative summit in the Red Sea city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

The supreme court ruling that the house demolitions could continue prompted criticism from US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

- AFP