The Israeli army dynamited three empty apartment towers in the Gaza Strip early yesterday in what it said was retaliation for a deadly Palestinian attack on a nearby Jewish settlement.
Troops evacuated more than 2,000 Palestinians from nearby homes before triggering the explosions, which sent clouds of black smoke billowing up and rocked the area for kilometers around, damaging many other structures.
In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian gunman who military sources said approached an army base in the Gush Katif bloc of Jewish settlements in Gaza.
The demolition of the 13-story buildings, unfinished apartment towers owned by Palestinian security services, ratcheted up tensions even further amid tit-for-tat violence that has stalled the US-backed "road map" to peace.
The buildings south of Gaza City overlooked the heavily guarded settlement of Netzarim, where two gunmen mounted an attack on Friday that killed three soldiers, two of them women.
Troops shot dead one of the militants, but the other escaped to a nearby police station, which the army demolished later on Saturday after ordering its evacuation.
Israeli military officials said they blew up the apartment buildings because they were used as observation posts for planning last week's raid and other attacks by militants spearheading a three-year-old uprising for independence.
Several parked cars were damaged and windows of nearby homes were shattered in the explosions, the largest demolition of Palestinian Authority buildings in Gaza during the uprising.
Palestinian medics said three people were lightly hurt by flying debris when the buildings were destroyed, and one person was shot by Israeli troops early in the evening.
"An earthquake of Israeli violence hit the Gaza Strip," one Palestinian radio station reported after huge explosions sent all three buildings tumbling to the ground.
Israeli officials said they ordered Palestinians living in the area to leave their homes temporarily for their own safety.
"I hope there is no collateral damage," said Brigadier General Gadi Shamni, head of Israeli forces in the area. "I hope it will be a good message to the Palestinian Authority not to let their infrastructure be used for terror."
The army has faced international criticism in recent weeks for strikes against militants that have also killed civilians.
The attack on Netzarim was carried out by Islamic Jihad and Hamas under a new policy sealed by leaders Ramadan Shallah and Khaled Mashal at a meeting in Syria earlier in the week in which they agreed to improve their "field cooperation."
They are the two main groups behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis.
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