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Israel launches biggest attack Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=43569http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=43569
Israel launches biggest attack
Associated Press
RAFAH (Gaza), May 18. — Israeli helicopters pounded this refugee camp with missiles and machine gun fire today, killing at least 20 Palestinians, including two teenagers, as troops searched houses in the biggest offensive in Gaza in years.
The death toll in Rafah was expected to rise, with doctors saying they knew of two more bodies they were unable to collect because of heavy shooting. In the West Bank, two Palestinians were killed by army fire.
Trapped Rafah residents said they huddled in the innermost rooms of their homes as bullets rained outside. Others tried to flee to safer ground. At least 34 Palestinians were wounded, including eight who were in critical condition.
The Israeli army said the aim of “Operation Rainbow” was to destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels and arrest Palestinian militants.
At the beginning of the raid, a missile fired from a helicopter hit a group of gunmen outside a mosque in Tel Sultan, killing three. Two more missiles were fired, killing three more people who rushed to help. The mosque caught fire. In another air strike, four Palestinians were killed, all civilians, according to hospital officials.
The military said both strikes were aimed at gunmen. Troops also demolished four houses in Tel Sultan, witnesses said. In all, more than 11,000 Palestinians in Rafah have been made homeless by Israeli demolitions.
SC rejects residents’ plea
Israel’s Supreme Court today rejected an appeal by 45 Palestinians against the destruction of their homes in Rafah, court officials said. The appeal was turned town after the military gave assurances it had no intention of razing houses, except those damaged during fighting and those used as a cover by Palestinian militants, a court source said, AFP adds from Jerusalem.
According to the army, troops have no intention of enlarging the so-called Philadelphi route, a buffer zone which runs along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, because the government would have to take such a decision.
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