The Israeli army dynamited three large, empty buildings in the Gaza Strip this morning in what it said was retaliation for a deadly Palestinian attack on a nearby Jewish settlement.
Troops evacuated more than 2,000 Palestinians from neighbouring homes before triggering the explosions, which sent clouds of black smoke billowing up and rocked the area for kilometres (miles) around, damaging many other structures.
The demolition of the 13-storey buildings, unfinished apartment towers owned by Palestinian security services, ratcheted up tensions even further amid tit-for-tat violence that has stalled the US-backed "road map" to peace.
The buildings south of Gaza City overlooked the heavily guarded settlement of Netzarim, where two gunmen mounted an attack on Friday that killed three soldiers. Troops shot dead one of the militants, but the other escaped.
Israeli military officials said they blew up the structures because they were used as observation posts for planning last week's raid and other attacks by militants spearheading a three-year-old uprising for independence.
Palestinians regard soldiers and settlers as usurpers of land they want for a state. The international community views the settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this.
The Israeli incursion began yesterday, when troops destroyed a Palestinian police station where the army said one of the gunmen had fled and received shelter.
"An earthquake of Israeli violence hit the Gaza Strip," one Palestinian radio station reported after huge explosions sent all three buildings tumbling to the ground.