Israelis retaliate against Palestinians after attacks

Israeli forces destroyed two five-story apartment buildings in a Gaza refugee camp early today after evacuating thousands of Palestinians from a neighbourhood, residents and the military said.

The military said Palestinian militants used the two buildings to fire rockets and mortars at nearby Jewish settlements and to shoot at Israeli troops.

In recent days, 10 Israeli civilians and soldiers were wounded in dozens of attacks from the structures, the military said.

Israeli forces often move into Gaza camps to destroy buildings said to be used by militants, but this was an especially large operation aimed at destroying relatively new apartment houses where dozens of families lived.

Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered the “Austrian project” neighbourhood of the Khan Younis refugee camp before midnight and ordered 6,000 residents there to leave their homes, residents said.

They were sent to a schoolyard while soldiers knocked down the two buildings, leaving the camp at daybreak.

At the beginning of the operation, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a group of Palestinians planting a land mine, exploding the device. Seven people were wounded, three seriously, Palestinian hospital officials said. There is a mosque nearby, but it was not targeted, according to military officials.

Israel is planning to pull out of Gaza and evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements there next year. Armed Palestinian groups are determined to show that they drove the Israelis out, and the Israelis are just as determined to demonstrate that they are in control, hitting at the militants.

The Gaza operation came less than two days after two Palestinian suicide bombers blew up buses in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, killing 16 passengers and shattering a six-month lull in large-scale attacks.

The violent Islamic Hamas claimed responsibility, but in a shift, Israel focused blame on Syria, saying the decision-making centre of the violent group shifted to the Syrian capital of Damascus after Israel’s assassination earlier this year of the Hamas founder and his successor in Gaza.

“The fact that Hamas is operating from Syria will not grant it immunity,” Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said yesterday, indicating that Israel might retaliate.

The overall leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, and his deputies operate from Syria.

“Syria continues to aid and support Hamas, with training camps and other support,” apparently believing Israel would not respond, Gissin said. “This is wrong, they will enjoy no immunity,” he warned.

The Israeli army commander, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, said yesterday that those who support terrorism “cannot sleep quietly at night”, mentioning Palestinian leaders, Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, Syria and Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon added his own implied threat: “Israel’s struggle against terrorism will continue unabated. We will apparently need to decide on additional steps to stop terrorism,” he said without elaborating.