Gaza, Palestine -- Tuesday, March 30, 2004 -- (Xinhua) -- On Tuesday morning, the Israeli army demolished a Palestinian house during a military operation in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Palestinian security sources reported.
They said the Israeli force, backed by an unspecified number of heavy vehicles, broke into Al-Salam neighborhood, near the borderline with Egypt, and demolished the house owned by Awad al-Shaer, in addition to razing vast areas of agricultural lands.
The residents added that the two-story building was the target of the Israeli army one year ago, but it failed to destroy it because of the efforts of US peace activist Rachel Corrie.
Corrie confronted an Israeli bulldozer that was on its way to destroy the house and was crushed to death, but she succeeded in stopping the demolition.
Meanwhile, early on Tuesday, the Israel army raided the northern West Bank town of Toubas and imposed a tight curfew on it before carrying out house-to-house searches.
Palestinian sources said the Israeli forces have intensified their deployment near Nablus city, north of the West Bank, claiming that the deployment is aimed at averting possible attacks against Israeli targets.
They added that overnight, the Israel army arrested five Palestinians during military raids in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Ramallah.
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