Israeli tanks shell homes as Gaza Strip raids increase

At least six Palestinians, including three children, were killed when Israeli tanks shelled civilian houses in Rafah refugee camp near the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt yesterday, according to Palestinian witnesses. More than 50 people were injured.

The Israeli army confirmed it had fired three shells, but said it was responding after Palestinian militants fired anti-tank rockets at a new military watchtower guarding the Egyptian border.

Dr Ali Moussa, the director of Rafah hospital, said six bodies had been identified. Three were of children aged 10, 12 and 15, two were women aged 30 and 70, and one was a 43-year-old man.

The Israeli army said two of the dead were armed men.

In addition to the identified dead, Dr Moussa said, parts of what appeared to be two bodies torn apart by the tank fire had been found in the rubble. They had not been identified.

There were reports of many Palestinians hit by tank fire as they sat innocently in their houses. Witnesses described seeing at least three houses damaged by shellfire while ambulance workers tried to reach the wounded as more gunfire cracked through the narrow streets in the town.

Of many places in the Occupied Territories that have become terrible, Rafah is one of the worst. Palestinians live close to Israeli soldiers guarding the border with Egypt, and there are frequent clashes.

In addition, the Israeli army often sends tanks on raids into civilian areas, saying it is hunting militants.

The Israeli military says that Rafah is a centre of Palestinian militants, who smuggle in armaments through secret tunnels that have been dug under the Egyptian border.

How yesterday's violence started is disputed, but it appeared to centre around a new watchtower the Israeli army is building to guard the border with Egypt.

Palestinian youths gathered and began throwing bottles and stones at the soldiers putting up the watchtower, according to witnesses.

The Israeli army said militants fired anti-tank rockets at the tower. Some Palestinians denied that – "It didn't happen," said Raouf Barbakh, a leader of the Fatah organisation in the refugee camp, "They only want to justify this ugly, brutal massacre against innocent civilians" -- but other Palestinian sources confirmed rockets had been fired. The Israelis responded with tank fire on civilian houses.

"I was cooking for my children when suddenly there was the sound of a tank shelling and there were explosions all around," Naifa Abu Jazzer told reporters in Rafah hospital yesterday, her face and body covered in blood.

The Israeli army did not deny it had fired on a civilian area yesterday. "It must be noted that Rafah is a major centre of hostile activity and arms smuggling, where terrorists operate from behind the cover of a civilian population," it said in a statement.

The Israeli army has been increasing the frequency of its raids on the Gaza Strip, and yesterday's deaths come after more than 20 people were killed there last week. Ten died when an Israeli helicopter fired on a crowd that contained women and children in Khan Younis, a few miles from Rafah, and at least four Palestinian teenagers were killed in the Rafah area, including a 12-year-old.