Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News

JERUSALEM, 17 May 2004 — Panic gripped Palestinians in Rafah after Israel’s top general threatened to destroy hundreds of Palestinian refugee homes. The general’s threat came hours after the Supreme Court cleared the way for demolitions in an Israeli-held corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Thousands of people started leaving their houses immediately after they heard over television and radio Israeli Army chief Moshe Yaalon’s announcement that the Jewish state will step up military operations in the Gaza Strip, including an intensive air campaign and the demolition of hundreds of Palestinian homes, in response to recent fighting in the area.

“Hundreds of houses have been marked for destruction,” a senior Israeli official quoted Yaalon as telling the Cabinet at its weekly meeting, without giving any timeframe for their demolition.

Refusing to extend a stay sought by a Palestinian rights group, the Supreme Court appeared to set broad terms for bulldozing homes in the Philadelphi zone, saying the army could destroy houses for operational purposes or to protect soldiers.

Seven of last week’s 13 Israeli dead in Gaza were killed in or near the buffer area, which Israeli officials said would be widened to make it safer for troops to patrol and less accessible to Palestinian fighters.

Over the weekend, the Israeli Army conducted a mass demolition of buildings in the Rafah camp, destroying more than 110 homes and leaving more than 1,000 people homeless.

“I will not leave my home,” said resident Nasrallah Keshta defiantly. “Where will we go? Yes, the Israeli bulldozers came two days ago.” Troops “entered my house, forced me and my family into one room and occupied the roof. From there they were shooting at civilians”. Nasrallah said.

UNRWA, the UN body responsible for housing and feeding Palestinian refugees, has called the Israeli onslaught a humanitarian catastrophe

More than 11,000 Palestinians have been made homeless in Rafah through demolitions since the intifada erupted on September 2000, UNRWA said.

“We are extremely alarmed that even more demolitions are planned,” Peter Hansen, chief of UNRWA said in a statement, accusing Israel of violating international law.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called the demolitions a “cruel continuation” of Israel’s campaign of aggression against the Palestinian people. “It’s another crime,” he said in his Ramallah headquarters after being asked for his reaction to the Supreme Court ruling. Arafat also urged the United States to do more to implement the troubled road map peace plan which aims at the creation of a Palestinian state next year but has made no progress in recent months.

Meanwhile, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at three targets in Gaza City early yesterday, knocking out electricity in about one third of the city and causing widespread panic. At least four people, including a child, were injured.

Late at night, Israel radio said troops killed four Palestinians as they tried to cross the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Neither the army nor any Palestinian official had any immediate comment on the incident.