Israeli tanks and troops began withdrawing from Rafah refugee camp yesterday under international pressure to end three days of fighting in which 41 Palestinians were killed. An Israeli military source said a «redeployment» was under way.

The Israeli army, saying it was searching for weapons smuggling tunnels dug under the Egypt-Gaza border, sent dozens of tanks and hundreds of troops into Rafah on Tuesday in the biggest Gaza raid in years after militants killed 13 soldiers.

Israeli security sources said a smaller contingent would remain in Rafah, a militant stronghold, for an undefined period of time. As troops withdrew, leaving behind torn up roads and toppled power lines, hundreds of residents in the Brazil neighbourhood returned to their homes to find some 25 had been destroyed while they had taken refuge away from the violence.

«We took our children away and fled for our lives and as you see the houses are completely demolished,» Rafah resident Naeema Abu-Jerida told Reuters. «Thank God we had time to leave, but we had no chance to take any of our belongings with us.»

International pressure on Israel to quit the area mounted after its forces killed 10 Palestinians at a peaceful protest in Rafah on Wednesday. Troops said they did not aim to hit the rally. US President George W. Bush?s administration showed rare displeasure with Israel by not vetoing a UN resolution urging an end to the violence.

In Washington, a senior State Department official said Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert had assured the United States it would not demolish any more homes in Rafah or widen an adjacent flashpoint buffer zone on the Egyptian frontier.

«Olmert did tell us when he came in Tuesday that there would not be further demolition of houses and that they were not going to widen the strip. We?ll see what happens,» said the official, who asked not to be named.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Thursday instructed the army to recast its plan to expand the Israeli-patrolled buffer area dubbed «Philadelphi Road» to limit the number of Palestinian homes that would be razed, Israeli media reported.

Israel?s army chief had threatened to destroy hundreds of houses in a bid to boost security for soldiers who come under constant attack in the border strip.

«My house was toppled on our heads,» recalled Nabil Hassan, 52, as he stood on the rubble of his home yesterday. «The army did not warn us, did not ask us to leave, they started while we were still inside.» He said he and his family of 13 had taken shelter in a bathroom as bulldozers continued working but managed to get out after a neighbour told soldiers they were still inside.

In apparent preparation for the partial pullout, soldiers distributed leaflets in Rafah listing names of wanted militants and warning residents against cooperating with them. «These people are sabotaging your life with their terrorist activity,» the leaflets said.

Nidal al-Mughrabi