ei: 11 Palestinians, Including a Man, His Two Children and Two paramedics, Killed and 30 Others Wounded in an IOF Air Strike on a Civilian Car in Gaza

Palestinian medics examine a child wounded in an Israeli air strike at a car carrying militants in the northern Gaza June 13, 2006. A total of ten people, including two children and two militants, were killed in the air strike. (MaanImages/Thaeer al-Hassany)

On Tuesday noon, 13 June 2006, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) committed a new extra-judicial execution in Gaza City, which killed 11 Palestinians, including 9 civilian bystanders. A man, his two children and two paramedics were among the victims.

The targeted person in this attack was a member of the Islamic Jihad. Investigations conducted by PCHR indicate that IOF aircrafts launched a missile at dozens of civilians, including paramedics, who gathered near a civilian car shortly after IOF aircrafts attacked it, targeting a member of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad.

Thus, the number of extra-judicial executions committed by IOF in the past 4 days has mounted to 6, which have killed 18 Palestinians and have wounded at least 40 others. This latest attack and other similar attacks have come as an implementation of a series of decisions taken by the Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz to escalate extra-judicial executions against Palestinian militants to stop launching locally made rockets at Israeli towns. Peretz has been also considering intensifying military operations in the Gaza Strip, whose victims are often unarmed civilians.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 11:45 on Tuesday, 13 June 2006, an IOF aircraft launched one missile at a civilian vehicle (Voks Wagen) that was traveling near Martyr Mohammed al-Durra Hospital in al-Tuffah neighborhood in the northeast of Gaza City. Two members of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, were traveling in the car.

The missile directly hit the car, killing the two members of the al-Quds Brigades: Hammouda al-Wadiya; and Shawqi al-Saiqali. Palestinian civilians living in the area gathered around the car and two paramedics from the nearby hospital came to provide first medical aid. Immediately, IOF aircrafts launched another missile at the car, killing 10 civilians, including a man, his two children and the two paramedics:

1. Hussam Hamad, a paramedic;
2. Adnan Daoud Taleb, 35;
3. Ashraf Farouq al-Mughrabi;
4. Hisham Ashraf al-Mughrabi, 7;
5. Maher Ashraf al-Mughrabi;
6. Ali al-Omari;
7. Ibrahim al-Da'lees;
8. Rafeeq al-Mubayed; and
9. Mousa Nasrallah.

In addition, at least 30 other civilians, including a number of children, were wounded; the wounds of 12 of them have been described by medical sources as serious.

PCHR strongly condemns this latest attack. PCHR is gravely concerned over the Israeli escalation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). PCHR asserts that such crimes serve to escalate tension in the region and threaten the lives of Palestinians. PCHR calls upon the international community to immediately intervene to stop such crimes, and reiterates its calls for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to meet their obligations to ensure protection for Palestinian civilians in the OPT.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent legal body based in Gaza City dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law and upholding democratic principles in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It holds Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations and is an affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, the F�d�ration Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network. PCHR is a recipient of the 1996 French Republic Award for Human Rights.

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