Israeli tanks and bulldozers crashed through the fence marking the border with the Palestinian self-rule area in Gaza early yesterday, entering the Brazil neighbourhood of the town of Rafah. The US State Department condemned the action.
After a brief fire fight, the Israelis drove off lightly armed Palestinians and destroyed 19 homes inhabited by 23 families, several shops and an orchard, before leaving at 5.30 a.m.
One young Palestinian, Mr Mahmoud Aql (18), was killed and 11 people, including three children, were wounded in the exchange of fire between the Israelis and Palestinian militiamen.
During a similar incursion into Rafah last week, 13 houses and 38 shops were destroyed.
The US State Department yesterday condemned the incursion, a senior spokesman saying: "Actions such as the Israeli incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas - and that includes the incursion into Rafah today and the bulldozing of Palestinian buildings - undermine efforts to defuse the situation and bring an end to the violence and escalation."
After the tanks and bulldozers had withdrawn, a girl of nine was shot in the jaw during random Israeli fire.
Intermittent shooting from an Israeli position overlooking the area continued throughout the morning, although there was no firing from the Palestinian side and no armed Palestinians were visible.
I visited several damaged homes along with the first international UN staff member on the scene, Ms Emilie Tonogai from Canada.
The first row of houses built along the border fence was devastated. Water from broken pipes was streaming across tile floors. Many homes in the second row were also rendered uninhabitable. Mr Abdul Rahman Isdudi, a teacher, took Ms Tonogai's party on a tour of his home. He said 12 people had lived in his spacious residence built around a courtyard with a fountain surrounded by trees and shrubs.
Refugee families received $1,000 in emergency aid and a food package from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Three native Gaza families were given $700 in financial assistance and food. According to the UNRWA team which assessed the damage, 147 people were rendered homeless. Israel considered the operation a "legitimate act of defence" in response to Palestinian mortar attacks against the southern Gaza settlements of Morag and Neve Dekalim. The Palestinian Authority called it a "dangerous escalation".
The raid followed a series of tit-for-tat strikes in the war of attrition between Israel and the Palestinians. A Palestinian police officer was killed on Tuesday during a shoot-out in the Brazil neighbourhood when the Israeli army attempted to bulldoze a police post and the Islamic Movement, Hamas, killed an Israeli settler.
