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.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS