Israel Drives 1064 Palestinians Homeless In Rafah – U.N.

"On entering the camp this morning, we found 88 buildings demolished which had housed 206 families. It affects 1,064 people," said U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Paul McCann.

"This is incredibly intense. It is probably one of the worst days of the Intifada for Rafah which has already been hit very hard," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The demolitions and the resulting increase of homeless Palestinians coincided with the Nakba Day, the day when Israel was created 65 years ago on the lands of Palestine.

On Friday, May 14, UNRWA has described the situation in Rafah as a "humanitarian catastrophe".

Since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, UNRWA statistics show that Rafah has suffered severely from the Israeli house demolition policy, with more than 11,000 people made homeless.

Palestinian security forces and rights groups condemned the Israeli demolitions, widely slammed as a collective punishment measure.

The Independent quoted an AP's resident correspondent in Rafah as saying "frantic Palestinian residents fled their homes waving white flags and carrying valuables in cartons and plastic bags. They even took away furniture, doors and window frames".

"This is a humanitarian catastrophe and a war crime," Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security in Gaza.

"The army destroyed roads, electricity and water supplies in the camp. They have destroyed everything," he said in a statement faxed to AFP.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) earlier said more than 100 buildings were destroyed in Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

The Israeli army insisted Saturday that the comprehensive raid was limited to the task of finding the remains of soldiers killed Wednesday.

It denied the measure was part of a government scheme to widen the security zone round the border patrol road where the dead soldiers' troop carrier was blown up, reported the British daily.

On Thursday, Israel said it would bulldoze "hundreds of houses" to widen the buffer zone in a bid to secure its patrols and prevent resistance fighters from using what it calls "tunnels to smuggle weapons".

The move was green-lighted by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

An official from Sharon's office warned the demolition would commence in earnest after troops completed the search for the remains of the five soldiers.

The search ended early Saturday, the army said shortly after troops withdrew from the town.

Two more Israeli soldiers and a Palestinian were killed in the area Friday.

The body of another Palestinian was discovered early Saturday under the rubble of his destroyed home, Palestinian medics told AFP.