GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel sent tanks and bulldozers into a Palestinian refugee camp early Thursday, knocking down dozens of buildings in retaliation for a raid on an army post that left four soldiers dead.
The army said the buildings were hideouts used by gunmen, but the Palestinians said the bulldozers destroyed residents' homes. Angry residents retrieved a few rain-soaked belongings a mattress, a pot, a stroller from the rubble.
Meanwhile, tensions grew between Islamic militants, some of whom say they will renew attacks against Israel after a monthlong lull, and Yasser Arafat, who issued a call Dec. 16 for an end to the violence.
Pressure on the Palestinian leader has increased in the wake of Israel's seizure of a ship carrying 50 tons of weapons that Israel and the ship's Palestinian captain say were bound for Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority has disavowed any knowledge of the ship, seized last week in the Red Sea.
But a senior U.S. official said Thursday that the Bush Administration has concluded after a briefing by Israeli intelligence that the Palestinian Authority and a PLO faction controlled by Arafat were involved in the scheme.
"I, like many, am beginning to suspect those arms were headed ... to promote terror," Bush told reporters Thursday.
He did not directly blame Arafat, but said, "I do believe that once the evidence is in, those responsible need to be held to account. ... Mr. Arafat must renounce terror, must reject those who would disrupt the peace process through terror and must work hard to get to the peace table."
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