Gazans stand in the wreckage of their home, destroyed by Israeli anti-tank missiles and dynamite. Some 20 families in the al-Amal quarter of Khan Yunis were made homeless on February 11 when more than 200 Israeli soldiers and border police carried out a 13-hour military assault in search of “terrorists.”

The troops ordered the families to evacuate their homes before dawn. The Palestinian men between ages 15 and 50 were herded into a nearby garage, bound and blindfolded. Troops fired anti-tank rockets and heavy shells into the houses, and then set dynamite charges inside the wreckage.

This was the third such assault since Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin took office in which Israeli troops used anti-tank weaponry, 40 mm shells, large caliber machine guns, and dynamite against entire blocks of houses in Gaza in search of “suspects.” This marked the first time in which any arrests were made, but of the 14 men initially detained, only two remained in custody several days later. Half of the 186 Palestinians affected by the raid were rendered completely homeless.