The Tunnels - Reason or Pretext:

Up to 1,240 Palestinians have been made homeless in the most recent
operation by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip, a senior
United Nations official said Sunday.

Peter Hansen, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA)for Palestinian refugees, said that "many houses have been
completely demolished".

UNRWA said that about the 1,240 Palestinians were left homeless during
the three-day raid by IDF troops hunting for tunnels used to smuggle
weapons from Egypt into the Strip. This was the largest-scale demolition
of houses in a single operation in Gaza in the past three years of
fighting.

"We have had very, very significant damage to the refugee camp," Hansen
said after inspecting the damage Sunday. "Many houses, maybe as many as
120, have been completely demolished."

UNRWA said 114 refugee shelters were destroyed in the raid. Another 117
buildings were damaged.

The IDF said Saturday that three tunnels had been located and destroyed,
but warned Sunday that the operation would continue, despite the
withdrawal of most of the troops in the early hours, for as long as the
tunnels were being used.

IDF sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said over the weekend
that Israel had intelligence warnings that Palestinians were planning to
use tunnels under the Egyptian border to smuggle in weapons that could
have a strategic impact on the three-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
but the Egyptians were not taking steps to stop them.

Sources said the smuggled weaponry may include Stinger shoulder-mounted
anti-aircraft missiles that could shoot down the attack helicopters
Israel often uses in operations in Gaza.

Stinger missiles could also threaten Israel Air Force warplanes or
civilian aircraft flying close to the Gaza Strip.

Also, the sources said, the Palestinians were trying to smuggle Katyusha
rockets, which have the range to hit Israeli cities near the Strip.
During the conflict, the Palestinians have been aiming homemade mortars
and rockets at Israeli towns and settlements.

Three Qassams hit Negev Three Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip
landed in the western Negev area of Israel on Sunday.

Two of the rockets, which were fired in the afternoon, landed near a
kibbutz. There were no injuries, but damage was caused to a factory,
Army Radio reported.

Early Sunday morning, Palestinians fired a Qassam rocket at the town of
Sderot, Israel Radio reported. No injuries were reported, but a road was
damaged.

Late Saturday night, troops thwarted an attempted terror attack when
they discovered three Palestinian militants trying to place a bomb in
the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Morag.

The troops opened fire shortly before midnight, killing one of the men.
Troops then chased away the other two would-be terrorists. The
militant's body was found a short time later near three explosive
devices which sappers then neutralized.

Troops met with much opposition during the Rafah operation and IDF
officers expressed surprise at the extent of the militants' firepower,
including the hundreds of bombs, grenades and anti-tank missiles
Palestinians threw at the troops, Israel Radio reported.

Eight Palestinians, including a nine-year-old and a 12-year-old, were
killed during the operation. A spokesman for the IDF said that a
19-year-old Palestinian killed on Saturday had been armed.

At least 70 Palestinians were reported wounded in the operation, most
when a helicopter fired a missile at a crowd. The IDF said the missile
targeted a group of gunmen.

Israeli forces also demolished five buildings used by militants to fire
on troops, the military spokesman said. He also said another three
buildings used to conceal gunrunner tunnels were demolished as well.

Witnesses in Rafah said IDF troops demolished 42 homes, although it was
not immediately clear how many of these were individual buildings.

"It could be that Palestinian fire also caused structural damage," the
spokesman said, referring to heavy resistance Israeli troops encountered
when they stormed Rafah at daybreak Friday in the deepest raid there for
six months.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat, called the operation a "war crime and a human tragedy."

The funerals of the Palestinian casualties took place over the weekend,
during which masked men called for revenge and fired their weapons in
the air. The dead were identified as: Ibrahim Krinawi, 8; Sami Salah,
12; Mabruk Juda, 18 and Yihyeh Sharif, 19; Nader Abu Taha, 22; Mohammed
Abd al Waheb, 23; Mohammed Yunis, 28 and Ala Mansour, 23.

Palestinian sources said that medical professionals were also hurt in
operation, and that the IDF initially prevented ambulances from arriving
at the area of the fighting. They said that later on ambulances were
allowed to evacuate the wounded into a makeshift clinic.

Rafah residents said troops seized a strip of land 150 meters deep into
the camp, a known militant stronghold, and soldiers took positions on
roof tops.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday condemned the Rafah raid,
saying that Israel's "disproportionate use of force in densely populated
areas is not compatible with international humanitarian law." He called
on both sides in the conflict "to take every measure to avoid harming
innocent civilians.