Israeli tanks and troops began withdrawing from Rafah refugee camp yesterday under international pressure to end three days of fighting in which 41 Palestinians were killed.
An Israeli military source said a "redeployment" was under way.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Israeli army, saying it was searching for weapons-smuggling tunnels dug under the Egypt-Gaza border, sent dozens of tanks and hundreds of troops into Rafah on Tuesday in the biggest Gaza raid in years after militants killed 13 soldiers.
Israeli security sources said a smaller contingent would remain in Rafah, a militant stronghold, for an undefined period of time.
As troops withdrew, leaving behind torn-up roads and toppled power lines, hundreds of residents in the Brazil neighborhood returned to their homes to find some 25 had been destroyed while they had taken refuge away from the violence.
"We took our children away and fled for our lives and as you see the houses are completely demolished," Rafah resident Naeema Abu-Jerida said.
"Thank God we had time to leave, but we had no chance to take any of our belongings with us," Abu-Jerida said.
International pressure on Israel to quit the area mounted after its forces killed 10 Palestinians at a peaceful protest in Rafah on Wednesday. Troops said they did not aim to hit the rally.
US President George W. Bush's administration showed rare displeasure with Israel by not vetoing a UN resolution urging an end to the violence.
In Washington, a senior State Department official said Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert had assured the US it would not demolish any more homes in Rafah or widen an adjacent flashpoint buffer zone on the Egyptian frontier.
"Olmert did tell us when he came in Tuesday that there would not be further demolition of houses and that they were not going to widen the strip. We'll see what happens," said an official who asked not to be named.
Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Thursday instructed the army to recast its plan to expand the Israeli-patrolled buffer area dubbed "Philadelphi Road" to limit the number of Palestinian homes that would be razed, Israeli media reported.
Israel's army chief had threatened to destroy hundreds of houses in a bid to boost security for soldiers who come under constant attack in the border strip.
"My house was toppled on our heads," recalled Nabil Hassan, 52, as he stood on the rubble of his home yesterday.
"The army did not warn us, did not ask us to leave, they started while we were still inside," he said.
He said he and his family of 13 had taken shelter in a bathroom as bulldozers continued working but managed to get out after a neighbor told soldiers they were still inside.
In apparent preparation for the partial pullout, soldiers distributed leaflets in Rafah listing names of wanted militants and warning residents against cooperating with them.
"These people are sabotaging your life with their terrorist activity," the leaflets said.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS