20 Arabs die as Israel raids camp

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Under heavy cover fire from helicopters, Israeli troops combed this refugee camp for weapons and gunmen Tuesday in the biggest Gaza offensive in years. Twenty Palestinians were killed, including two teenagers shot as they gathered laundry.

International condemnation mounted of the operation, and the United States said it was asking Israel for "clarification." The United Nations and European Union demanded an end to the incursion, which Israeli security officials said would last at least a week.

In Rafah, a crowded camp of 90,000 people near the Egyptian border, Palestinian families sought refuge from the rocket and machine-gun fire in the innermost rooms of their homes.

The death toll was the highest one-day total since 35 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank city in Ramallah on April 5, 2002.

The Israeli army said the aim of Operation Rainbow was to destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels and arrest Palestinian fighters. It said it did not intend to demolish large numbers of Palestinian homes. Troops tore down four homes Tuesday, witnesses said.

Last week, Israel destroyed about 100 houses, making more than 1,000 Palestinians homeless.

Troops moved Tuesday into the Tel Sultan neighborhood on the outskirts of the Rafah camp. Bulldozers began tearing up a road to separate the neighborhood from the rest of the camp, and soldiers backed by about 70 armored vehicles conducted house-to-house searches, sometimes using bulldozers to knock down doors.

The army said most of the casualties were gunmen killed by missiles or machine-gun fire as they prepared to attack troops.

Residents said at least nine civilians died. At least 42 Palestinians were wounded.

Some Palestinians tried to reach safer ground. Thousands have left their homes in Rafah since the weekend, hauling away their possessions on tractors and donkey carts.

In all, 19 Palestinians in Rafah were killed by Israeli fire: 10 in two missile strikes, and nine by machine-gun fire, said Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a Palestinian Health Ministry official. A 20th man was killed while handling explosives.

Israel said both missile strikes, including one outside a mosque, were aimed at gunmen.

Palestinian ambulance drivers reported coming under fire, and Hassanain said several ambulances were unable to evacuate the wounded.

The army denied soldiers fired at ambulances and said it was allowing some ambulances to drive to Khan Younis, which has a better-equipped hospital than Rafah, along an otherwise closed road.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat denounced the operation as a "planned massacre."

Although Israel says it is targeting Rafah to destroy arms-smuggling tunnels, security officials have said the army also planned to widen a patrol road between the camp and Egypt, which would mean demolishing rows of houses.

Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, Israeli army chief, said homes would be demolished only if gunmen used them as firing positions or to cover up tunnels.

The threat of mass house demolitions drew strong international criticism, including from the United States.

President Bush termed the violence "troubling" but said Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism.

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