violence in the Gaza Strip where at least 20 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in a controversial Israeli military operation which Israel said was designed to destroy terror networks.
Israeli officials said troops were send into the area to detain or killed gunmen while destroying tunnels used to smuggle weapons from neighboring Egypt following last week’s bomb attacks and related violence in the area which killed 13 Israeli soldiers.
Several Israeli helicopter gunships and armor pounded the Palestinian refugee camp at Rafah Tuesday, May 18, as troops conducted house-to-house searches for gunmen and weapons, the Voice of America (VOA) reported.
Civilians were in the cross fire. Photographers saw how a bare feet Palestinian mother carried her baby while running for her life as Israeli missiles fell on Gaza. While Israel stressed that most of those killed were gunmen, Palestinians said at least six of the dead were civilians.
Television footage showed the bodies of two teenagers identified as a brother and sister lying side-by-side in a makeshift morgue, VOA reported.
CHRISTIAN AID
In addition Christian Aid, a relief agency of the churches in the United Kingdom and Ireland, claimed Tuesday, May 18, that Israeli tanks and armored vehicles also demolished "hundreds of Palestinian homes" in what it called "one of the most destructive incidents in the Gaza Strip in recent years."
It quoted the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as saying that 2,197 people have already been made homeless and 191 homes razed throughout Gaza in the past few days.
"The worst affected area is Rafah, on the border between Egypt and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where 1,064 people lost their homes in 48 hours." Christian Aid said.
There were fears Tuesday, May 15, that the violence could lead to an international conflict after the Arab League announced it will begin legal proceedings to bring Israelis to trial for what it described as "Gaza war crimes." United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan also said that the destruction of homes in Rafah was against international law, news reports said.
SUPREME COURT
In a related development, the Israeli Supreme Court has rejected a petition by 46 Palestinian families in Rafah seeking a hearing on Israeli plans to demolish their homes. The petitioners said their homes had never been used as bases for attacks on Israeli patrols.
Yet President Bush said Tuesday that peace was still possible between Israelis and Palestinians, without specifying how to achieve that. "The unfolding violence in the Gaza Strip is troubling and underscores the need for all parties to seize every opportunity for peace," Bush said.
And Christian Aid stressed it was encouraged by a 120-thousand strong peace rally late Saturday 15 May in Tel Aviv, where Israelis demanded that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fulfill his plans to withdraw fully from the occupied territory.
The protest demanded Sharon keep his pledge despite losing a referendum on the issue in his Likud Party earlier this month. However "recent incidents such as the killing of a Jewish settler and her four daughters by Palestinian militants may have hardened Likud voters against Sharon’s plan to pull out of Gaza, Christian Aid cautioned.
