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"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. 

Israeli bombardment of Beit Hanoun kills at least 18, including 11 from one family

7 November 2006


Israel has renewed its assault on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 18 Palestinians on Wednesday morning. Palestinian medical sources reported that dozens of Palestinian citizens had been killed or injured in an Israeli artillery bombardment of Beit Hanoun in the north of Gaza Strip. A large number of women and children were also injured in the shelling. The sources said the preliminary number of the citizens killed is 18, but rising. In addition, more than 35 were injured. Many of the dead arrived at the hospital fragmented in pieces. 

Three killed in strike against PLC member's residence

7 November 2006


Five Palestinians were killed on Tuesday morning, including two in an armed clash between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters. The other three were killed in an air strike that targeted the house of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Jamila Shanti in Jabalia refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. She survived, but her sister-in-law was killed. Medical sources said that the medical crews were finally able to reach the bodies of Hamdi Batsh and Raed Qarm after seven hours of obstruction by the Israeli troops who prevented anybody approach the dead bodies. Batsh and Qarm were killed in an armed clash with the Israeli soldiers. 

IOF redeploy around Beit Hanoun, leaving serious damage

7 November 2006


The IOF began redeploying their troops around the town of Beit Hanoun at 1am this morning, 7 November 2006. They left the town at 2am after inflicting serious damage against human life and property during their seven-day incursion. Initial field reports from Al Mezan’s fieldworkers who were deployed in the town state that IOF caused large damage to the town’s streets, water, sewage and electricity lines. The main bridge in the town was also destroyed. It was also reported that at least 200 homes were at least partially destroyed or damaged. 

Palestinian women demand UN action in letter to Annan

4 November 2006


We, women of Palestine, are appalled by the perpetration of the Israeli onslaught against our people which has culminated recently in the criminal aerial bombardment of Israel of innocent Palestinians in Beit Hanon - Gaza, and of several civil infrastructures in Palestine. Millions of Arab women wonder when the United Nations would assume its responsibility in securing and safe guarding human lives in our area. They wonder why the UN and the International Community remain silent and helpless in the face of the present destruction and massacres perpetrated by the State of Israel with the blessing of its staunch American ally and why they continue to allow the state of Israel to contravene International law and to violate with impunity all UN resolutions and international human rights conventions. 

Protecting Palestinian females: HRW misses the mark

Helena Cobban 7 November 2006


I truly do not understand some of the decisions that my colleagues and friends at Human Rights Watch have been making. This week, to much fanfare, they rolled out a very well-funded study about domestic violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in which their main order of business is to blame the Palestinian Authority for having, “failed to establish an effective framework to respond to violence against women and girls.” As a woman, as someone who survived some long-ago domestic violence, as the mother of two daughters, and as quite simply a member of the human race I am deeply concerned about the question of domestic violence. But this study seems wrongly conceived and wrongly focused for a number of reasons.