GAZA, Jan 2: Israeli army bulldozers destroyed 25 Palestinian- owned houses in the southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Rafah on Thursday, Palestinian residents said.

Nineteen of them were razed to the ground while six others were badly damaged, the residents said.

Twelve of them were destroyed in the town’s so-called Block (J) and 13 in the al-Qassas neighbourhood, close to the border with Egypt.

An Israeli army spokesman said the army demolished only four buildings in the town, from where militants had been taking cover and firing anti-tank missiles.

But Palestinians said that while heading for those buildings, the bulldozers squashed surrounding one-storey, two- to three-room homes belonging to refugees.

A Palestinian human rights centre said that 43 families or 222 people who lived in the demolished houses became homeless and need humanitarian aid.

The centre said the Israeli soldiers did not allow the residents to carry any of their personal belongings or furniture with them.

Meanwhile, Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement said it fired a missile at the Israeli forces as they were destroying the houses.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement also claimed responsibility for planting a roadside bomb in the area.

Two Israeli soldiers were injured when an army bulldozer drove over it. No injuries were reported among the Palestinians.

REFUGEE CAMP: Israeli forces backed by helicopter gunships battled gunmen in Gaza refugee camps on Thursday after killing four Palestinians who the army said were on their way to attack Jewish settlements.