Israeli army reduces Gaza refugee camp to ruins
Israeli troops withdrew from a besieged Palestinian neighbourhood in Rafah refugee camp early today, leaving behind dozens of demolished homes, acres of levelled agricultural land and residents despairing over how the destruction will be repaired.
The military said that in the framework of the partial redeployment, Israeli forces released the quarantine from the Tel Sultan neighbourhood, and residents were free to leave and enter. Troops continued to operate in the Brazil area of the refugee camp.
Tel Sultan was the first focus of the Israeli sweep through the sprawling refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border. Residents said the tanks pulled back in the direction of a Jewish settlement after midnight. However, the six-day Israeli raid continued in other areas of the camp.
Wary residents who left their homes – many for the first time since Israel launched its offensive – confronted streets and homes bulldozed into mounds of rubble, razed farms and greenhouses and sewage running through streets decorated with downed electric and telephone cables.
Israel’s operation has led to sharp international and local criticism. Israeli cabinet Minister Yosef Lapid caused an uproar yesterday when he said images of Israel’s destruction in the Rafah refugee camp reminded him of his grandmother, who suffered Nazi atrocities during the Second World War.
In daylight, the destruction looked even worse than residents had originally anticipated.
“In one simple word: This is Hiroshima 2004,” said Rafah Mayor Saed Zourab while touring the Tel Sultan neighbourhood.
“The Israeli war machine left its ugly stamp on every tree, on every street, and they left an ugly tattoo on the head of these people. No word can describe the destruction and there is no way to repair this destruction,” Zourab said.
The water and sewer systems have been destroyed, Zourab said, adding it would take a long time to repair downed telephone and electric cables. All the streets in the neighbourhood have been damaged, and some residents cannot leave their homes because rubble blocks the door, he said.
Every house in the neighbourhood has been damaged in some way, whether by bulldozers and other heavy military vehicles manoeuvring through the camp’s narrow alleys, or by machine-gun fire, Zourab said. “Even the mosque has been burned,” he added.
Israel’s Operation Rainbow was launched to uncover and destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border and round up militants, according to the army.
However, only one tunnel has been uncovered, while 41 Palestinians have been killed and dozens of homes destroyed.
