<B> Is the demolition policy new? </B>

No. Demolitions occur with regularity, but rarely with such intensity. In the Gaza Strip alone, more than 18,000 Palestinians have lost their homes since the start of the intifada, according to figures supplied by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa). The majority are in the densely-populated southern Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where Israeli army posts are located. However, demolitions have also occurred in other areas of the Gaza Strip, where more than 7,000 settlers live among some 1.3m Palestinians.

<B> What is the scale of the current wave of demolitions? </B>

In the first half of May, Unrwa relief teams report that 2,197 were made homeless with the demolition of 191 homes throughout the Gaza Strip.

Rafah was the worst affected area, the organisation says, with 1,064 newly homeless people added in two days to more than 11,000 who had already lost their homes. However, the Israeli army - which has in the past described figures supplied by Unrwa as highly exaggerated - says no more than 40 houses were demolished.

<B> What happens to the families? </B>

Unrwa, which describes itself as the biggest humanitarian operation in occupied Palestinian territory, tries to help with the immediate needs of those made homeless, and builds shelters for some families. However, its resources ?are unable to meet the growing humanitarian crisis faced by those without shelter,? it says.

<B> What do the Israelis say? </B>

The Israeli army maintains that the demolitions are not arbitrary. It says the targeted houses serve as positions for gunmen and exit points for tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt.

It says its troops have been attacked from the buildings and that the demolitions are thus a legitimate act of self-defence ? an immediate military necessity to defend soldiers? lives. Rafah residents now face the prospect of hundreds more demolitions under Israeli plans to widen the corridor of land the army controls between Rafah and the nearby Egyptian border.

More attacks are reportedly launched on Israeli forces there than anywhere else in the Palestinian territories.

Observers say the new plan seems designed to counter critics who accuse the army of leaving its forces vulnerable in the ?Philadelphi Road? buffer zone, which is some 50 metres wide.

The intifada has also seen a renewal of Israel?s policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks in Israel, rendering members of their families homeless.

Demolitions have also been carried out for administrative reasons, when Israel says houses in the West Bank have been built without permits.

<B> What do the Palestinians say? </B>

Palestinians are angry at the loss of lives and the destruction of homes and communities. They see the demolitions as collective punishment after the recent deaths of 13 Israeli soldiers there, as well as a strategic attempt to drive them out of areas near the border.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called the destruction of homes a ?cruel continuation? of Israeli military actions against the Palestinian people. Palestinian anger and derision greeted the Israeli Supreme Court ruling.

A spokesman for campaigners who brought the action said the ruling was a further example of the Israeli justice system providing what he described as cover for the crimes of an army of occupation.

Unrwa?s Commissioner General Peter Hansen says the ?overwhelming majority? of the thousands who have lost their homes in Gaza ?have been guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.?

<B> What is the international reaction? </B>

The demolitions have been accompanied by a chorus of disapproval from abroad. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for an immediate halt to such actions ?which are tantamount to collective punishment and a clear violation of international law.?

EU officials have also criticised the destruction. US Secretary of State Colin Powell ? at a news conference in Jordan ? criticised the destruction of homes in Rafah, while broadly supporting Israel?s right to self-defence.