Amnesty slams Israeli killings

In its annual report, Amnesty criticised as "collective punishment" Israel's destruction of homes during incursions into Palestinian areas. The human rights group also called for independent inquiries into the deaths of Palestinians during the recent operation in Gaza's Rafah refugee camp.

Amnesty also said about 200 Israelis, including 21 children, were killed in attacks by Palestinian armed groups in 2003. It said the use of suicide bombers against civilian targets was a crime against humanity.

The Israeli army said "Operation Rainbow" - its biggest incursion in years into the sprawling Rafah camp near the Egyptian border - was necessary to root out weapons-smuggling tunnels used by Palestinian militants.

Israel launched the offensive after 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza earlier this month.

Troops pulled back on Monday with only three tunnels found, leaving a swath of churned-up roads, piles of rubble and scores of demolished or damaged buildings across the camp that is home to 90,000 Palestinians.

Palestinian hospital doctors said 45 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during the operation, including at least 17 gunmen and 12 children under 16. The army said 41 "terrorists" were killed, but did not respond to repeated requests to release a list of names of gunmen killed by troops.

Israel said 56 homes were demolished or damaged, while the United Nations said 45 buildings housing 575 people were razed. Palestinian officials said about 300 houses were destroyed.

The UN Relief and Works Agency said 1960 people had had their homes demolished by Israeli forces in Rafah since May 1, and more than 13,000 since 2000.

"In the overwhelming majority of cases where Palestinian houses or agricultural land have been destroyed, Israeli authorities have not accused the owners of crimes against Israeli security," said Donatella Rovera, a Middle East researcher for Amnesty International. "There is an enormous element of collective punishment here."

Amnesty also has and urged Israeli authorities to hold a "thorough and independent investigation" into the killing of eight Palestinian protesters during a march in Rafah on May 19.

The army said the Palestinians died when an Israeli tank fired shells into an empty building in an attempt to halt the crowd, which contained several gunmen.

Gaza army commander Major General Dan Harel said Monday that the dead included seven civilians and one gunman.

Hospital officials said four of the dead were children.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw several armed Palestinians standing in a side street as the march passed, but none in the crowd. Amnesty said its delegates at the scene had not seen armed men among the demonstrators or heard any Palestinian gunfire prior to the Israeli shooting.

It said it was concerned that Israeli methods "were excessive and violated international law".

The human rights group also called for an inquiry into the May 18 deaths of Ahmed Mughayer, 13, and his 16-year-old sister Asma. Family members said they were killed by Israeli sniper fire from an adjacent building as they gathered laundry from the roof of their apartment house in Rafah.

The army said today it was conducting thorough internal inquiries into the deaths. A spokesman said Israeli forces were not operating in the area at the time and that the army was investigating the possibility the teenagers died in an explosion.

Descriptions and photos by foreign journalists who viewed the Mughayers' home and nearby buildings supported the family's account. An Associated Press reporter saw bullet holes on the roof where the children died, and food tins and a Hebrew-language newspaper on the roof of an adjacent building.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution last week condemning the Israeli operation in Rafah; the United States, in a sign of significant displeasure with Israel, abstained rather than using its veto.

The prime minister of Turkey, one of Israel's few friends in the Muslim world, turned down an invitation to visit the Jewish state, officials and Turkish news reports said today. Turkish media reported that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was harshly critical of the Israeli incursion.

A growing number of Israeli commentators also criticised of the raid, saying it had accomplished few of its aims, at a high price in Palestinian suffering and damage to Israel's image.

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