The Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) has escalated its aggression against the Gaza Strip. The IOF, which has full control and clear sight over the borders, killed three children and arrested 13 civilians yesterday. According to field investigations by Al Mezan, at approximately 5.10pm on Wednesday 29 August 2007, the IOF fired one missile that landed where three children were playing near their homes by the Industrial Zone, which is only two kilometers from the borderline to the south of the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Read more about Israeli forces kill three children, arrest 13 in Gaza
The Gaza Strip saw much tension during the past two days. One Palestinian was killed, 21 were injured and about 60 others arrested in the towns of Rafah and Gaza City. Mass Friday prayers on 31 August 2007 ended with clashes between the Executive Force (EF) and a group of the worshippers, who prayed outside mosques in response to a call from Fatah. In addition, a minor was killed on Saturday, 1 September 2007 as the EF dispersed a vigil that was organized in protest of the prolonged closure of the Rafah Crossing. Read more about One killed, 21 injured in Gaza clashes
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is extremely concerned by the decision taken by the Interior Minister in the Palestinian Government in Ramallah to dissolve 103 benevolent associations and non-governmental organizations alleging administrative, financial, or legal violations. PCHR fears that this step is taken within the context of recent restrictions placed on civil society to undermine its role and restrict its work under the “State of Emergency” declared on 14 June 2007 in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Read more about PA set to close 103 Palestinian NGOs
JERUSALEM, 26 August 2007 (IRIN) - The Israeli ban on deliveries of paper to Gaza is not only threatening to create a shortage of textbooks in the Strip but also shining a spotlight on what constitutes legitimate humanitarian aid. Israel is allowing in food, medicines and fuel, which it sees as essential aid, but not paper, even though many would see education as a vital sector in need of all the support it can get. Read more about Ban on truckloads of paper set to hit Gaza schools
The Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) has escalated its aggression in the Gaza Strip. Twelve Palestinians, including two minors, were killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours. In addition, the Israel’s Naval Forces opened fire at fishermen and arrested eight of them in the town of Rafah today. According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, at approximately 5pm on Monday 20 August 2007, an Israeli air raid targeted a car near the entrance of a former national security site in middle Gaza, killing six. Read more about Israel kills 12 Gazans, including two children, in 24 hours
Gaza’s only power plant has completely ceased providing power after Israel’s four-day closure of the border crossing through which fuel supplies enter the Strip and the European Union’s freezing of funds. Gazans’ already hard living conditions are expected to rapidly aggravate without proper power supplies. Israel, which has full control of Gaza’s border crossings, has continued its policy of closure, a serious measure of collective punishment against Gaza. Since 2000, it tightened the closures, but completely sealed off the Strip in June and imposed unprecedented restrictions on the movement of people and goods. Read more about Electricity cuts exacerbate dire situation in Gaza
BEERSHEBA, 20 August 2007 (IRIN) - A new legal petition to Israel’s High Court demands the state connect 11 primary health care clinics in the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev desert to the main power grid in order to provide better health services. The clinics, which were established as a result of previous petitions, use generators, but only during opening hours. Afterwards, the electricity shuts off. Read more about Bedouins demand improved access to health care
BETHLEHEM, 16 August (IPS) - Israeli forces began Wednesday to bulldoze hundreds of trees on land owned by a Catholic convent near the city of Beit Jala near Bethlehem. This section of forest is being razed, according to Israeli plans, to complete a section of the separation wall, which continues to carve the West Bank into pieces. Near the convent, the Israeli settlement colonies of Gilo and Har Gilo, behind the wall on Palestinian lands, continue to expand over the rocky hillsides. When this section of the wall is completed, several villages will be separated from each other and the greater Bethlehem area. Read more about Bethlehem land destroyed as settlers anchor in
Since the pre-dawn hours today, 14 August 2007, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has been waging a large-scale incursion into the town of New Abasan to the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Up to the publication of this press release, IOF killed four Palestinians: two civilians, one of them an elderly woman, and two resistance activists who attempted to resist the incursion. In addition, IOF injured 14 Palestinians. It is noted that IOF continue to prevent ambulances from reaching the injured. In addition, IOF are carrying out a major arrests campaign in the area. Read more about Israeli forces kill four, arrest dozens in ongoing Gaza operation
On Friday 10 August 2007, the Hamas-affiliated Executive Force (EF) attacked two wedding parties and a civilian demonstration. It also arrested several Fatah members and a cameraman in Beit Hanoun town, northern Gaza Strip. According to investigations by Al Mezan, at approximately 5pm on Friday members of the EF arrested four of Fatah’s high ranking members in Beit Hanoun. They were identified as 41-year-old Faris Nai’m, 45-year-old Maher Abu Harbid, 40-year-old Issa Al Mughrabi, and Shihdeh Abu Zreiq. The latter is the headmaster of Hail Abdul Hamid Secondary School. Read more about Hamas force condemned for political arrests, press restrictions
