Goto to the directory:
cd ~/.thumbnails
And execute a find command with xargs:
find . -name '*.png' | xargs rm
Or you could:
echo * | xargs rm
How to create a 1000 files:
for (( i=1 ; $i<=1000 ; i=$i+1 )) ; do echo ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff > ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff$i ; done