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Gaza fury after Israeli pullback

by bbc
The scale of the destruction in the town of Rafah in southern Gaza has become apparent after Israeli troops pulled out of two key areas.
rafah1.jpg
During their three-day raid Israeli troops demolished homes and ripped up streets; the local zoo lies in ruins.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent says local residents, who are venturing onto the streets once more, are furious.

Israel says the incursion, in which at least 40 Palestinians died, was aimed at destroying arms-smuggling tunnels.

Mission continues

The Israeli army insists it only demolished houses that were concealing tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt.

Israeli sources indicated that the army's hunt for illicit tunnels in Gaza would continue despite the pullback.

Most of the Israeli tanks left the Tel Sultan and Brazil neighbourhoods at daybreak on Friday, residents said.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, says the Israeli troops occupied the north side of the Brazil neighbourhood for just one day, but what they did during that time will be remembered for many years.

A large olive orchard has been destroyed; there is not a tree left standing, and every street around it has been churned up by the tanks, our correspondent says.

The tarmac has been stripped from the roads and the front of shops sheered off by the passing heavy armour, our correspondent adds.

Along with the demolished homes the only zoo in the Gaza Strip has been ruined. Most of the nearly 80 animals have either escaped or been killed.

International outcry

The offensive was launched after 13 Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian militants in the Rafah area last week.

The local leader of the radical Hamas movement died in an Israeli missile strike, Palestinian medical sources said. And as Israeli forces moved deeper into Rafah, trading fire with gunmen the death toll mounted.

Rafah's mortuary overflowed and many of the dead have had to be stored in freezers in different parts of town.

Following the violence on Wednesday the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the deaths and demolitions.

The UN says recent house demolitions in Rafah by the Israeli army have left about 1,600 residents homeless.

The resolution, which was adopted by 14 votes to 0, also urged Israel not to demolish homes in violation of international law.

The US, which usually vetoes anti-Israeli resolutions, abstained from the vote.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3734581.stm
§Gaza fury after Israeli pullback
by bbc
rafah2.jpg
Israeli bulldozers destroy Palestinian greenhouses at the entrance of the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood at the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, May 21, 2004. Israel began a partial troop pullout from a Gaza refugee camp on Friday, three days after defying an international outcry by sending in its tanks and demolishing homes, Palestinian sources said. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
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Wed, Aug 11, 2004 10:31AM
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