Palestinians Sift Through Ruins After Israeli Onslaught

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel "Sharon is worse than the Nazis," she continued, pointing to the ruin of her three-storey house in the Al-Sikka district, the most damaged in the Jabaliya refugee camp, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Surrounded by four of her children and holding a fifth in her arms,32 -year-old Manal Abu Nadi weeped over a pile of rubble.

Her house and nine others belonging to members of her family in Al-Sikka were flattened on Friday, October15 , shortly before Israeli forces redeployed away from Palestinian residential areas.

"They destroyed our house without warning. We left without our shoes," she cried as hundreds of people picked through mounds of debris to search for belongings.

"Sharon is a butcher."

At least 129 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli offensive on Jabaliya, a refugee camp of100 ,000, in the deadliest military operation in Gaza since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada against the occupation forces four years ago.

Around 100 houses were leveled in Jabaliya and neighboring Beit Lahia, scenes of the heaviest destruction, said Palestinian security sources.

Iman Al-Hams,13 , was riddled with 20 bullets by three Israeli soldiers while on her way school in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

She was left lying in a pool of blood because ambulances had been denied access.

Another 10 -year-old Palestinian schoolgirl died of her wounds after Israeli snipers shot her in the chest while sitting inside a UN-run school in a Gaza refugee camp.

Massive Destruction

Israeli tanks and bulldozers churning through Jabaliya alleyways had destroyed at least fifty workshops and shops along the Gaza Strip's main road.

Lamp posts and electricity cables lay uprooted along roads mangled by Israeli tanks around Jabaliya and Beit Lahya.

Puddles of stagnant drain water permeated refugee camp streets with a fetid smell.

Whole districts were still without water and electricity on Saturday.

Dozens of homeless families milled around schools run by UNRWA in the hope of passing the night in a tent or finding another temporary home.

Relics Destroyed

Israeli armored columns also damaged a4 th-century Byzantine archaeological site in eastern Jabaliya, destroying ancient columns and mosaics, an official from the Palestinian tourism ministry, Muin Sadeq, told journalists.

The site was recently restored with the help of the United Nations Development Fund, he said.

"Nothing has escaped the destruction, even this archaeological site which they knew about. Signs in different languages identify this as an archaeological site and Palestinian UNDP flags fly above it," he regretted.

Although Israeli forces redeployed on Friday, the occupation army has not yet announced the end of the so-called Operation Days of Penitence and the army remains in Palestinian territory.

Israeli occupation forces had twice attempted to break into the Jabaliya refugee camp since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada, killing at least 52 Palestinians.

The new bloody Israeli incursion plunged the Gaza Strip again in scenes of anguish, as intensely emotional pictures continued to unfold.

In his annual report on the human right situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, UN special rapporteur John Dugard said Israelis "bulldozers have destroyed homes in a purposeless manner and have savagely dug up roads, including electricity, sewage and water lines."

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-10/16/article06.shtml