Israel said Sunday that its ongoing offensive in Rafah would end in a matter of days, as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unveiled his revised plan for a gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to the army.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Tommy Lapid touched off a scandal when he condemned Operation Rainbow, indirectly linking the destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah to the Nazi killing of Jews during the Holocaust.
As the deadly Israeli raid in southern Gaza dragged into its sixth day, gunfire sent Rafah residents scurrying for cover, as Israeli tanks and bulldozers backed by helicopter gun-ships demolished more buildings.
Amid international criticism over the Rafah raid, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told a weekly cabinet meeting the operation "would continue for several days, but not for several weeks," public radio reported.
Mofaz described the operation as "a way to weed out terrorism and arms smuggling at the roots."
Israel has justified its deadly offensive, which has thus far claimed the lives of 43 Palestinians, by saying houses in Rafah are being used as cover for tunnels to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip from neighbouring Egypt.
In the embattled Brazil area of Rafah, which lies just a few hundred meters (yards) from Egypt, tank shells were fired at buildings on the district's main thoroughfare, sending women and children scurrying from their homes.
Earlier, Sharon presented a revamped version of his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip to key military and security officials, one week before putting it to his government, cabinet officials said.
The new plan calls for a phased military pullout as well as the evacuation of 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and a few in the northern West Bank.
A gradual withdrawal would allow the Jewish state to put a halt to the evacuation according to the evolution of the situation on the ground, public radio reported.
THREE HAMAS MEN KILLED: In Nablus, in the northern West Bank, three members of the Palestinian movement Hamas were killed when their car exploded.
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