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No evidence of radioactive residue in Lebanon: post-conflict assessment

7 November 2006


The fieldwork of the post conflict environmental assessment of Lebanon has been completed by a team from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which carried out its work in Lebanon from 30 September to 21 October 2006. The experts covered the following disciplines; Asbestos; Contaminated land; Coastal and marine issues; Solid and hazardous waste management; Surface and ground water; Weapons and munitions. From these respective disciplines a wide range of samples were transported to three independent and recognized laboratories in Europe for tests. 

Massacre in Beit Hanoun

Yousef Alhelou Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip 8 November 2006


One day after the Israel army declared that it had pulled out and completed Operation Autumn Clouds in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, 24 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and the West Bank, 19 people were killed and at least 45 were injured as a large number of shells were fired at the town. Another five Palestinians were killed in Jenin, northern West Bank by Israeli army fire. The series of incidents began at 6 a.m., when eyewitness said that dozens of tank shells and missiles landed simultaneously in a small and limited area in Beit Hanoun. Ambulances found it difficult to evacuate the wounded. 

UNRWA strongly condemns Israeli military operations in Beit Hanoun

8 November 2006


UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd expressed shock and dismay at the killing of yet more Palestine refugees, many of them women and children, in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun this morning. A barrage of tank shells hit civilian homes in Beit Hanoun early Wednesday morning, causing 19 fatalities and leaving more than 60 people injured. The Al-Athamneh family lost 17 members including four women, five children and two infants, one of them two years old, the other 9 months old. The Al-Athamneh family are Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate. “This morning’s tragedy is yet more evidence, if any were needed, that this futile cycle of inhuman violence must end,” Karen AbuZayd said. 

UN human rights expert calls for urgent action on Gaza

8 November 2006


On 25 June 2006 Israel embarked on a military operation in Gaza that has resulted in over 300 deaths, including many civilians; over a thousand injuries; large-scale devastation of public facilities and private homes; the destruction of agricultural lands; the disruption of hospitals, clinics and schools; the denial of access to adequate electricity, water and food; and the occupation and imprisonment of the people of Gaza. This brutal collective punishment of a people, not a government, has passed largely unnoticed by the international community. The Quartet, comprising the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and the Russian Federation, has done little to halt Israel’s attacks. 

Palestinian human rights groups denounce Beit Hanoun massacre

8 November 2006


The Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) have committed an appalling act of mass murder in the town of Beit Hanoun today, one day after they redeployed around it. At dawn, the IOF fired eleven artillery shells on six homes in the town killing 18 civilians; seven of whom are children and six of whom are women. 53 others were wounded; of whom 25 are children and 12 are women. With this, the number of Palestinians who have been killed since the commencement of the IOF operation in Beit hanoun on 1 November 2006 has reached 77. Palestinian human rights organizations strongly condemn this outrageous crime and stress that it is but another example of the continued excessive use of force and the targeting of civilians and civilian objects that is carried out by IOF. 

"We just need to live" say Beit Hanoun residents

8 November 2006


Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun have described finding bodies dismembered by what they said was Israeli artillery fire early this morning, and added that many residents were fleeing the town for fear of further violence. They told how they have been left without water - and in many cases homes - after the Israeli military occupied the town of 50,000 inhabitants for a week before bombarding it less than 24 hours after withdrawing. “Right now, the only thing the people of Beit Hanoun need is to live,” said Yamen Zaqqout, a 28-year-old computer programmer. 

B'Tselem: The Killing of Civilians in Beit Hanun is a War Crime

8 November 2006


Israeli artillery shells struck a residential neighborhood in Beit Hanun, Gaza Strip, early Wednesday morning, killing 18 civilians, including 7 minors, and wounding some 40 others. The Israeli military contended that the artillery fire was aimed at the place from which Qassam rockets were fired at Ashkelon yesterday, an area about half a kilometer from where the shells actually landed. The IDF said that human or technical error caused the shells to strike the houses. The Minister of Defense has ordered an investigation into the incident. 

Amnesty International delegate visits scene of Gaza Strip killings

8 November 2006


The killing this morning of 18 civilians in the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun, victims of Israeli shelling, was an appalling act, Amnesty International said today. The organization called for an immediate, independent investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable. It said previous Israeli investigations, such as that carried out into the killings of a Palestinian family on a beach in the Gaza Strip last June, had been seriously inadequate and failed to meet international standards for such investigations, which must be independent, impartial and thorough. 

Occupying army kills 18 civilians in the shelling of Beit Hanoun

8 November 2006


In a serious escalation in crimes they commit in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), on Wednesday morning, 8 November 2006, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) shelled a residential area in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, killing 18 Palestinian civilians, including 17 members of the al-‘Athamna family, and wounding 55 others. Most of the victims were sleeping in their homes when the attack took place. IOF fired at least 10 artillery shells at the area. This crime has come only one day after the IOF redeployment from the town, following a 7-day incursion, during which IOF committed a series of crimes. 

Letter: Switzerland must act on Gaza even as others choose silence

Ali Abunimah 8 November 2006


EI co-founder Ali Abunimah writes to the Swiss foreign minister: “I am not an ambassador, a minister, or an elected official. I have no standing to appeal to your conscience except as a human being. I do so now with all the will I can muster to urge your government immediately to reconvene the Conference of the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention urgently to consider measures to enforce this Convention and end the grave and mounting breaches being perpetrated by Israel, the Occupying Power, in the Gaza Strip.” The letter followed the morning of an Israeli massacre in Beit Hanoun which killed 19 civilians, including 11 from a single family.