- GAZA CITY (AFP) -- About
1,500 people have been left homeless in Rafah refugee camp in southern
Gaza as a result of a major ongoing Israeli army operation, the United
Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on Sunday.
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- "We have had very, very significant damage to the
refugee camp.
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- "This is well more than twice as much as has been
destroyed in any other action," Peter Hansen, commissioner general
of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) told reporters here.
-
- Hansen, who was speaking after inspecting the site on
Sunday morning, said that his agency had yet to complete a definitive tally
of the damage to property in the raid which has cost eight Palestinian
lives.
-
- But he said: "It would appear between 100 and 120
shelters/houses were completely destroyed and completely demolished. These
shelters are homes to some 250-300 families.
-
- "The damage is very, very extensive in three of
the so-called blocks the camp is made into.
-
- "If these initial estimates are correct, it will
mean we will have some 1,500 persons added to the homeless roll in Rafah
which already has some 6,000 people."
-
- Hansen said that UNWRA would be setting up temporary
shelters for the homeless but that it was not a long-term solution.
-
- Eight Palestinians have been killed and about 80 injured
during the operation launched Thursday night which Israel says is aimed
at destroying tunnels used to smuggle in weapons from across the border
with Egypt.
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