OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 13 October 2003 —The governor of Rafah declared the area a disaster zone yesterday as the Israeli Army pressed for a third straight day a major operation that has already claimed eight lives.
Majid Al-Ghal said at least 100 houses had been destroyed during the operation. “We announce that Rafah is a city of disaster,” said the governor. “They have destroyed roads, water supplies, the sewage system, telephones and electricity.”
Residents said there had been no electricity, running water or telephone service in the teeming, cinder-block refugee camp for 48 hours after Israeli forces knocked out generators providing power to the impoverished community of 70,000.
Peter Hansen, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency serving Palestinian refugees, said that “between 1,000 and 2,000 people have been left with nothing whatsoever.” About 120 homes or blocks of flats were flattened and dozens more severely damaged, Hansen said during a tour of smashed neighborhoods. Most of Rafah’s residents live with several generations of relatives under one roof.
On the political front, the prospects of a patch-up between Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei and President Yasser Arafat looked gloomy. Qorei told the ruling Fatah party that he intended to give up the post in a few weeks. Speaking after a meeting of the Fatah Central Committee, Qorei would only say that a new government would be formed in three weeks “with a new prime minister too.”
