Palestinians seriously wounded a Jewish settler in a shooting attack in the Gaza Strip  on Tuesday, and witnesses said Israeli occupation troops demolished eight Palestinian-owned homes. The Islamic resistance group Hamas claimed responsibility for the shooting in the Kfar Darom settlement. One or more attackers sneaked into the settlement and opened fire on an Israeli near greenhouses there, rescue and security officials said. The attackers got away and occupation troops were searching the area, the occupation army said.

The settlements are built on land the Palestinians want for a future state and have been targeted frequently by activists during the past 28 months of fighting.

In response, several Israeli tanks drove into the nearby Palestinian town of Deir al Balah, demolishing two houses, a chicken coop and a greenhouse, witnesses said. Occupation troops also searched several homes, arresting one man. The occupation army spokesman did not immediately comment.

In the Gaza refugee camp of Rafah, Israeli tanks and two bulldozers demolished five houses after forcing the residents to leave, witnesses said. Tanks fired machine guns as cover during the operation but no one was injured. The occupation army did not say why the houses were razed.

Rafah is located on the Israeli-Egyptian border. Occupation soldiers have demolished dozens of homes in the camp in more than two years of fighting, charging they served as cover for gunmen and weapons smugglers.

In the West Bank village of Beit Furik, occupation troops demolished the two-story house of a Palestinian who killed an Israeli in a shooting attack last year before being shot dead by security forces, the occupation army said.

The seven residents of the house took some possessions with them before occupation soldiers blew it up. The activist, Said Hanani, was a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat 's Fatah  movement.

"The demolition of houses belonging to terrorists is a message to the resistance terrorists ... that there is a price for their actions," the occupation army said.

Also Tuesday, the Palestinian finance minister, Salam Fayyad, confirmed that Israel transferred to the Palestinian Authority  almost 60 million dlrs in taxes collected from Palestinian laborers and businesses, the single largest payment since fighting began.

Of the amount, about 21 million dlrs is from money owed to the Palestinians that Israel has frozen during fighting, alleging that it is used to finance attacks. Israel is required to make the payments to the Palestinian Authority according to previous peace agreements.

"There is an expectation that Israel will make the payments regularly now," following a recent agreement, Fayyad said.

The violence has crippled the Palestinian economy, with tens of thousands of laborers unable to reach jobs in Israel and activity at businesses and government offices frozen under Israeli security closures and curfews.

PHOTO CAPTION

Relatives of Palestinian farmer Salem Qudeih cry and shout anti-Israeli slogans as they take his body out of the family's house during his funeral in the southern Gaza Strip  refugee camp of Khan Younis Monday Feb. 3, 2003. Qudeih, 60, was one of two Palestinian farmers killed by Israeli tank fire in the Gaza Strip on Monday.( AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)