Israeli troops pulled back from two neighbourhoods in Gaza's Rafah refugee camp today, but said it would redeploy forces in the area and that its offensive will continue.
As relief trucks brought food and water to one of the worst-hit areas, residents returned to scenes of ripped-up roads and demolished buildings in areas were 40 Palestinians have been killed in four days.
The Israelis have vowed to continue the incursion in search of arms-smuggling tunnels and militants but have indicated they are seeking an alternative to the mass demolition of Palestinian homes which has attracted fierce international criticism.
During more than three years of Palestinian-Israeli violence, Israeli forces have made dozens of forays into the Rafah camp to destroy tunnels used to smuggle weapons across the nearby Egyptian border.
Brigadier General Shmuel Zakai, army commander of the Gaza region, said the weapons militants attempted to smuggle constituted a "great and imminent danger" to Israelis.
The Israeli military said 90 tunnels have been found and destroyed since 2000, though none have been discovered during the current Operation Rainbow offensive, launched on Tuesday.
AP