Palestinian Center for Human Rights 28 January 2005
Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip killed this week 16 Palestinians, including a woman and her son and four children. (Arjan El Fassed)
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have launched more attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), in disregard for the feeling of Moslems during Eid al-Adha. During the period covered by this report, 20 Palestinians, 14 of whom were civilians, including 5 children and one woman, were killed by IOF. Two of the children were killed on the first day of the Eid. Human rights violations perpetrated by IOF included incursions into Palestinian areas, willful and extra-judicial killing, indiscriminate shelling, land leveling and total closure imposed on Palestinian communities. IOF have also continued to construct the annexation wall inside the West Bank.
In the Gaza Strip, 16 Palestinians, 11 of whom were civilians, including a woman and her son and 4 children, were killed by IOF. On 13 January 2005, IOF killed a child and a member of the Palestinian resistance during an incursion into al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. They also shot dead a Palestinian civilian in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia when he was trying to evacuate a woman in labor to the hospital. On 14 January 2005, IOF killed a Palestinian civilian in Khan Yunis, and another civilian from Beit Lahia died from a previous injury. On 15 January 2005, IOF killed 5 Palestinians during an incursion into al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. They also killed 2 Palestinian civilians, including a child, in Rafah. On 16 January 2005, IOF killed a woman and her son in Khan Yunis. On 20 January 2005, the first day of the Eid, IOF killed a child in Rafah when he was visiting his uncle. On 26 January 2005, IOF killed a 3-year-old child in Deir al-Balah when they shelled her family home.
IOF conducted 9 incursions into Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip, the largest of which was into al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City on 15 January 2005, during which IOF razed large areas of agricultural land and killed 5 Palestinians. In the other incursions, IOF razed 41 donums of agricultural land in al-Boreij refugee camp, destroyed 3 houses in Khan Yunis, and raided and searched a number of houses and used 2 Palestinian civilians as human shields in Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun. On 14 and 16 January 2005, the Israeli air force destroyed 2 civilian facilities in Deir al-Balah and Beit Lahia. IOF also continued to shell Palestinian residential areas.
In the West Bank, IOF killed 3 Palestinians, including a child, and one Palestinian civilian died from a previous injury. On 20 January 2005, IOF killed a child in Tubas village near Jenin. On 22 January 2005, IOF killed a Palestinian civilian near the annexation wall near Qalqilya. On 24 January 2005, a Palestinian civilian from Hebron died at an Israeli hospital from a previous injury. On 26 January 2005, IOF extra-judicially killed one Palestinians and injured and arrested two others in Qalqilya. IOF also moved into various areas throughout the West Bank, injured a number of Palestinian civilians and arrested dozens of others. They also destroyed a house and an apartment building in the context of retaliatory measures against Palestinian civilians.
IOF have continued to construct the annexation wall inside the West Bank Territory. For this purpose, they issued military orders confiscating more areas of Palestinian land in villages located to the northwest of Jerusalem. They also confiscated at least 400 donums of agricultural land in Ethna village near Hebron. This week, IOF resumed the construction of a section of the wall in Salfit area, south of Nablus. They plan to construct this section 23 kilometers inside the West Bank Territory.
IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and have imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
In the Gaza Strip, on 14 January 2005, IOF closed al-Mentar (Karni) commercial crossing to the east of Gaza City, completing the cycle of economic stranglehold of the Gaza Strip. IOF imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians at Abu Houli and al-Matahen checkpoints on Salah al-Din Street (the main road between the north and south of the Gaza Strip), especially during the Eid. They fired at Palestinian civilians waiting at the two checkpoints, injuring 8, including a woman and her child. They also arrested a number of Palestinian civilians. IOF have continued to close Rafah International Crossing Point on the Egyptian border for departing travelers, but reopened it for arriving travelers on 21 January 2005.
In the West Bank, IOF have continued to impose a strict siege on Palestinian communities. They have also imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians, even during the Eid. They also arrested a number of Palestinian civilians while traveling through military checkpoints.
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