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Israel strikes Gaza refugee camp

Palestinian Mohammed Kawasmeh, cousin of suicide bomber Ahmed Kawasmeh, 26, looks at the destruction to the family home after it was destroyed by Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Hebron, early Wednesday. Kawasmeh was one of two Palestinian suicide bombers who blew themselves up almost simultaneously on two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba Tuesday, killing 16 Israelis and wounding more than 80. PHOTO: AP

Israeli forces destroyed two five-story apartment buildings in a Gaza refugee camp early yesterday after evacuating thousands of Palestinians from a neighborhood, 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" neighborhood 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 center 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, told The Associated Press on Wednesday, 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, Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon, said Wednesday 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.

On Oct. 5, 2003, Israeli planes struck an Islamic Jihad training camp outside Damascus, a day after a female suicide bomber blew up a restaurant in the Israeli port city of Haifa, killing 21.

Though Israel and Syria are bitter enemies, the air strike was a rare act of violence. Israel has held Syria partly responsible for years of Hezbollah raids from Lebanon and has often threatened Syria. In practice, however, the Israelis hesitate to provoke a conflict with Syria, and the border has been calm for decades.

Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that in response to the bombing, Israel would go after local Hamas leaders and step up military patrols in the sparsely populated, barren southern part of the West Bank. The target of Tuesday's bombings was Beersheba, 25km south of the West Bank. Sharon also pledged to finish a contentious West Bank separation barrier, aimed at blocking suicide bombers. The southern section across from Beersheba and has not been built.

"The fence will be completed according to the Cabinet decision, and we are doing all we can to speed up the process as much as possible," Sharon said.
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