Israeli forces are preventing medical teams from accessing the dead and injured in Rafah. The hospital is overflowing with casualties that ambulances were able to reach, but those they could not lie dying in homes and streets. Said Lemghayer from the Tel El Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, died instantly when Israeli snipers shot him whilst he was standing outside his house. His family tried to transfer him to a hospital but Israeli forces prevented the ambulance from reaching him. Read more about Medical teams in Rafah prevented from access to dead and injured Palestinians
The top UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said today he is alarmed by the death and destruction caused by the ongoing Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. Reports say that among the mounting casualty count are many civilians and some children under 16, Mr. Roed-Larsen said in a statement. Israel, as the occupying power, should act under the framework of international law, most critically in the protection of the civilian population, he added. UNRWA reports that many Palestinian families are leaving the Rafah refugee camp and heading north to Khan Yunis, fleeing the fighting and fearing further demolition of homes by Israeli forces. Read more about UN envoy 'alarmed' by ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza
On Monday, Israeli forces reinvaded Rafah. This Israeli military operation has so far resulted in the death of seventeen Palestinians and more than thirty injuries. PRCS ambulances were subjected to direct Israeli gunfire, severely restricting their ability to evacuate injuries from the area. Two Israeli Army tanks coming towards it cornered one of the ambulances. Unable to leave the area, the medics in the ambulance were forced to flee for their safety. Read more about Palestinian medics forced to flee for their safety
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today repeated his condemnation of Israel’s widespread destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip, which a UN agency estimates will cost some $32 million to re-house the nearly 19,000 people left homeless by the demolition. According to UN relief teams, 2,197 people have lost their homes following the demolition of 191 homes throughout Gaza in the first 15 days of May, with Rafah the worst-affected area. There was also news of Israeli military plans for a more extensive round of house demolitions in Gaza. Read more about Annan calls on Israel to halt destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza
The Palestinians are suffering, in the words of the UN Relief and Works Agency, the “effect of a terrible natural disaster”, but one that has been created by people and politics. A manmade catastrophe where a power imbalance, maintained and exaggerated by Western governments lies at the heart of mass impoverishment and dehumanisation of an entire people. Palestine is a microcosm of everything going on in the world today. Nick Dearden is Campaigns Officer at UK anti-poverty charity War on Want, examines the state of affairs in Palestine. Read more about Palestine: the end of their dreams
Witnesses and officials in Jayyous, a farming village in the occupied West Bank, say a series of unprovoked tear-gas attacks by Israeli troops in recent weeks have taken a grave toll on residents’ health. The attacks come with a further tightening of Israeli military control of the town. Shareef Omar Khaled of the Jayyous Land Defense committee noted that Israel’s “separation wall” has now completely cut off the town from its agricultural lands. Shareef reports that soldiers frequently enter to the village and throw tear gas, and that many residents have developed respiratory problems. Read more about Israeli gas attacks take health toll on West Bank villagers
International Committee of the Red Cross11 May 2004
On 28 April, the ICRC repatriated a released civilian internee from Iraq to his native Palestinian village in the West Bank. The last time Ibrahim had seen any of his relatives was when his parents visited him while he was detained near Baghdad three years ago. Following the coalition-led invasion of Iraq, Ibrahim’s parents lost track of their son. A few months ago, they walked into the ICRC’s Jerusalem office and asked for help finding out where he was. Read more about From Iraq to Ramallah: Father reunited with family
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the UN’s top human rights official today both voiced their dismay at the violence and destruction in Gaza during the latest cycle of fighting that erupted earlier this week. “The Secretary-General strongly condemns Israel’s ongoing and widespread destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip,” said a statement issued by a spokesman for Mr. Annan. Reports cite the demolition of scores of buildings over the last two days. Read more about Annan, UN rights chief voice dismay at latest violence in Gaza
The UN refugee agency UNRWA has issued a call to the Israeli military to halt its demolition operations in Rafah in the Gaza Strip where 12,600 people are now homeless. UNRWA has opened a school to house the latest victims of the destruction and is distributing tents, food, water, kitchen kits, mattresses and blankets. UNRWA estimates that it will now cost $32 million to re-house the 18,382 people who have lost their homes across the Gaza Strip. Peter Hansen, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General said: “We are extremely alarmed that even more demolitions are planned. Already huge swathes of Rafah have been flattened, to the extent that some families have experienced the trauma of demolition more than once.” Read more about UNRWA: Alarmed at Demolitions
US President George W. Bush set out his vision for the Middle East in a speech he gave in the Rose Garden on 24 June 2002. The problem with his vision is that it keeps changing, writes Victor Kattan, a correspondent for Arab Media Watch who covered the oral pleadings which took place before the International Court of Justice in The Hague in February 2004. He is the author of “The Right of Return Revisited”, which will be published in a forthcoming edition of the Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights. Read more about The President's Vision: Development Under Occupation
