Palestinian children search in the rubble of the three buildings

GAZA CITY, October 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli troops Sunday, October 26, dynamited three under-construction 13-storey buildings in the southern Gaza Strip town of Al-Zahara, a move denounced by Palestinian officials as a "war crime."

Some 2,000 Palestinian residents living nearby were evacuated from their homes before the Israelis destroyed the buildings at around 2:30 am (0030 GMT) in a single massive explosion, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The explosion was as strong as it shook the ground several kilometers away, witnesses said.

Several hundred Jewish residents of the adjoining Netzarim settlement also took refuge in bomb shelters during the operation.

Israeli security sources claimed that the partially-constructed buildings had been used by Palestinians to spy on Israeli troop movements in Netzarim.

"It was very accurate, very well done," bragged Brigadier General Gadi Shammi, the Israeli military's commander in the Gaza Strip.

"I hope it will be a good message to the Palestinian Authority not to let civilian infrastructure be used for terror."

The Israeli attacks came two days after three soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn ambush on Israeli army barracks around Netzarim, and was claimed by the two Palestinian resistance movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

'War Crime'

Palestinians evacuate the area where three buildings are located

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat called the demolition a "war crime", adding that more than 140 apartments had been destroyed.

"What the Israeli army has done this morning - destroying three housing projects - is a war crime and a major violation of the Geneva Convention," Erakat told AFP.

However, the Israelis were unrepentant, with one senior source saying that plans to demolish the buildings had been drawn up 11 months ago but had been put on hold to allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) time to stop "militants" from using them as "observation posts."

"We expect buildings owned by the PA will not be used for terrorist activities but after the raid Friday we saw that we could not let this go on," the source said.

Peace Activist Shot

Meanwhile, an Australian activist campaigning against Israel's occupation of the West Bank has been shot through both legs during a protest, supporters said Sunday.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) said Perth university student Joshua Taaffe, 24, was shot by Israeli troops.

ISM spokesman Michael Shaiq said Taaffe arrived in the town of Nablus about four weeks ago to join international protesters there.

Taaffe was receiving treatment in a Nablus hospital, Shaiq said, adding that Israeli troops had entered the ward where he was lying and trained a weapon on him.

The precise timing of the shooting was unclear, but appeared to have taken place Friday night, October 24.

Also in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, at least one Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops.

"A Palestinian armed with an assault rifle was spotted and killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers at dawn Sunday near an army position close to the Gush Katif settlement bloc," an Israeli military source said.

Three other Palestinians were thought to have been killed in the same area, one near the Kfar Darom settlement, part of Gush Katif, and two near a military position, according to AFP.

Earlier a hospital source in Gaza City said a 17-year-old Palestinian died of wounds received in an Israeli raid in Gaza City on Wednesday.

Doctors in the West Bank town of Nablus also said that a 39-year-old man who was shot by Israeli forces on Saturday had also died of his injuries.

Jamal Kadus, 39, had been shot in the back while walking to work in Nablus on Saturday morning, October 25, from his home in the nearby village of Bureen.

The latest confirmed deaths brought to 3,585 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation at the end of September 2000, including 2,670 Palestinians and 849 Israelis.