AL QUDS, May 18: Amnesty International accused Israel of committing war crimes on Tuesday through its policy of destroying Palestinian homes in the occupied territories that had reached an unprecedented level.

More than 3,000 homes have been demolished by the Israeli armed forces in the past three-and-a-half years, Amnesty said, as the Israeli military appeared braced to destroy hundreds more in the impoverished southern Gaza Strip.

The military says that what it calls "empty" houses in Rafah must be razed to prevent them being used as cover by militant groups launching attacks on Israeli forces.

In addition, Israel has also destroyed hundreds of homes of the families of Palestinian militants since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

"In occupied territories, demolitions are often carried out as collective punishments for Palestinian attacks or to facilitate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements," Amnesty said in a report called "Evictions and Demolitions Must Stop".

"Both practices contravene international law and some of these acts are war crimes. "Forced evictions and house demolitions are usually carried out without warning with families given little or no time to leave their homes and salvage their possessions.

"Most cases of house demolition and destruction of land are not subject to legal supervision or appeal," it added. Amnesty researcher Donatella Rovera, who had just returned from a trip to Rafah, said it was ridiculous to claim that so many of the houses were empty.

"This is a contention (by the Israelis) that goes back some time," she told AFP. "It's almost become a joke among Rafah residents that they all must have a second home." The report said that the fourth Geneva Convention specifically prohibits collective punishment.

"War crime is not a phrase that we use lightly but that is the conclusion that we have come to," Rovera said. The Israeli supreme court gave the green light on Sunday to the army's plans to destroy hundreds more homes as their demolition could be justified on security grounds.

In a series of recommendations, Amnesty also called for a halt to the creation and expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and an end to the construction of Israel's separation barrier on Palestinian land in the West Bank.

It also called on the Palestinian Authority "to take all possible measures to prevent attacks by Palestinian armed groups and individuals against Israeli civilians in the occupied territories and inside Israel".

The Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement that it was reviewing the report but insisted that demolitions were justified when houses posed "a real security risk to Israeli forces".

"When terrorists fire from within civilian structures or activate roadside charges from trees and fields, military necessity dictates the demolition of these locations," it said. "Under international law, these structures are considered legitimate military targets." -AFP