Israel Showers Rafah Camp With Missiles: Children Die

Yesterday morning, Israel unleashed a torrent of missiles on the Camp. Seven Palestinians were reportedly killed and 10 were wounded in the attack. The Israeli Army claimed that they were targeting a group of armed Palestinians. In the city of Rafah, next to the Camp, Israeli soldiers killed two children. Tal al Sultan, a 24-year old Said Al-Mugayir was shot and killed west of the Camp by Israelis. 20 Palestinians have been killed so far in the Rafah operation, which is now entering its third day.

Rafah: The New Jenin

The Palestinian administration accused Israel of war crimes and called on both the U.S. and the Middle East Quartet of U.S., Russia, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations to intervene in the situation. The Izzeddin Qassam Brigades, the influential military wing of Hamas in the region, announced on Tuesday that they would fight against the massacre and demolitions of Israel to the end.

The announcement from Hamas said: "We are facing a new Sharon massacre. A massacre similar to the one in Jenin is being realized. In the spring of 2002, Israel launched an operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank and dozens of Palestinians lost their lives."

On the other hand, Israel announced that the operation would continue until they have succeeded in destroying the tunnels that are used to smuggle arms from Egypt into Gaza.

Israeli soldiers, accompanied by tanks, have been laying siege to the Rafah refugee camp for the past two days. Israeli soldiers are reportedly gearing up to fight house by house in the Camp. Meanwhile, Amnesty International declared that the operation violates international law and that war crimes are being committed. In addition, E.U. Common Defense and Foreign Policy High Representative Javier Solana condemned the Israeli operation.

While U.S. President George W. Bush announced ‘his concerns’ about the incidents, the Arab League reported that the Israeli operation is a war crime and that the Israelis are conducting ethnic cleansing. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat described the Operation as a huge massacre and called on the international community to act. Meanwhile, Jordanian King Abdullah, in a statement to the New York Times yesterday, said that Arafat should ask himself if he is still useful for the Palestinian issue.

Rafah Refugee Camp Established in 1949

The Camp, on the Egyptian border, was established in 1949 for 41,000 Palestinians who became refugees when the Israeli State was established in 1948. Over time, the Camp began expanding into the nearby city of Rafah. Only 80 percent of the Camp, which consists of 17 blocs and now houses 90,000 refugees, has adequate sewage. The United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNWRA) for Palestinians operates 29 schools serving 31,000 students at the Camp. Since the Aqsa Intifada began in 2000, Rafah refugee camp has been faced with the Israeli Army’s massacre policy.