OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Independent: Rafah, a buffer zone of rubble where families have to live on a football field By Justin Huggler in Rafah

Palestinians whose homes have been demolished by the Israeli army in Rafah's refugee camps are now living packed into dangerously cramped and unhygienic conditions in the changing rooms of a football stadium.

Up to 45 people are in one small room, while others are in rooms that open on to filthy, mosquito-ridden lavatories. Still others are living in the ruins of their homes, sheltering under four floors of fallen concrete that could collapse farther at any moment.

From the extent of the destruction, it has become clear that the demolitions, which began two weeks ago, are not just aimed at finding tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons, as the Israeli army claims. The intent is also to clear a broad swath of land adjacent to the Egyptian border, which runs next to Rafah, and create a de facto buffer zone to make the building of tunnels far harder.

The destruction in Rafah, the only Palestinian city close to an international border, is extraordinary. Entire streets have been bulldozed. The road still passes up the middle, but on either side are just mounds of rubble where houses used to be. In other places, a few useless walls have been left standing.

In the first raid alone, 150 homes were demolished and more than 1,500 people left homeless, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa. And the destruction did not end there. The Israeli army has made fresh incursions, demolishing more homes in other parts of the refugee camps around Rafah. The number left homeless is now believed to be more than 2,000.

"Terrorismus ist nicht die Waffe der Schwachen. Terrorismus ist die Waffe von Staaten"

"CHECK IT"