Israel cuts Gaza in three in response to attacks

ISRAELI forces yesterday set up roadblocks on main roads in Gaza, cutting the crowded seaside territory into three parts, after militants fired rockets at a nearby Israeli town, the military said.

Also yesterday, Palestinians said Israeli forces were operating in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border, destroying houses. The Israeli military denied the claims.

Associated Press pictures showed residents picking through rubble strewn with broken furniture and scattered clothes.

The camp is a frequent target of Israeli searches for arms-smuggling tunnels, some of which terminate there. Hundreds of structures have been destroyed in the current conflict.

The Israelis have been unable to stop rocket fire into Israel despite frequent army operations in northern Gaza, the launching zone.

Yesterday, Palestinians fired two of the homemade and primitive Qassam rockets at Sderot, an Israeli town of about 20,000 less than a mile from the Gaza fence.

Also, Palestinians fired several mortar shells at a Jewish settlement in Gaza, the military said. No damage or casualties were reported.

There have been no effective measures by Palestinian authorities to stop the rocket and mortar fire.

Israeli attempts have been equally ineffective. Cutting Gaza into three parts, a frequent response to violence, is seen by Palestinians as collective punishment, though the Israelis claim the purpose is to keep militants from transferring weapons from one part to the other. The last such roadblock, last week, was cancelled after a day.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was facing a twin challenge from settlers as hardliners blocked the dismantling of a Jewish outpost and West Bank residents planned a series of legal challenges to the route of the separation barrier.

While Sharon has promised the Americans he will get rid of the unauthorised outposts which dot the West Bank, his plans were again thwarted by around 1,000 radical settlers who blocked a late-night army operation so that it could remove only three of 13 trailers close to the central West Bank town of Ramallah.