The Israel Defense Forces’ internal inquiry into its artillery shelling of Beit Hanoun, which killed 19 Palestinian civilians and left dozens injured in northern Gaza, failed to address the key questions of whether the attack was a violation of international law and who should be held accountable for the lethal fire, Human Rights Watch said today. The Israeli government should immediately conduct a comprehensive independent investigation to establish these issues. “The IDF’s internal probe suggests that the Beit Hanoun tragedy can be chalked up to an errant volley of shells,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. Read more about HRW: IDF probe no substitute for real investigation
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Thursday at the request of Qatar - the lone Arab representation on the council - regarding the killing of 18 Palestinians on Wednesday by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). At dawn on Wednesday, the IDF fired between 12 and 15 shells at an apartment block in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, killing 18 people while they slept, mostly women and children. A further 55 people were injured. Council members held closed consultations on a draft resolution circulated by Qatar on Wednesday before holding an open meeting with 45 speakers that included a briefing by Angela Kane, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. Read more about Qatari draft resolution calls for ceasefire and UN observer force
Following yesterday’s mass murder in Beit Hanoun, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued its attacks on Gaza. Four Palestinians have been killed and four others wounded from Israeli fire over the day in the Gaza Strip. The death toll has reached 80 in the north of the Gaza Strip (87 in the whole of the Gaza Strip) since the start of the IOF operations in Gaza on 1 November 2006. At 7.10pm Wednesday, 8 November 2006, IOF killed 32-year-old Rajab Awad and injured one person when an Israeli drone fired a missile at a car in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City. Read more about IOF violations continue in Gaza with four Palestinians killed
The Israeli regime unleashes daily racist brutality that by far outstands the crimes of the previous apartheid regime in South Africa. It imprisons an entire people behind ghetto walls, kills them and submits them to an economic blockade that has brought communities to the verge of starvation. Yet, while exactly 30 years ago the UN General Assembly called for comprehensive sanctions against apartheid in South Africa, Palestinians are reminded on a daily basis that the Zionist Occupation can still count on the blindness of the world to its atrocities and crimes. Until when? Read more about Between Resistance and Deception
Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organisation in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN, would like to draw the attention of the UN General Assembly to severe shortcomings in the Register of Damage, as proposed in a report of the UN Secretary-General of 17 October 2006, for the Wall that is being illegally constructed by Israel inside the occupied West Bank. Attached you will find a copy of a brief on this issue. Al-Haq believes that the proposed framework for the Register of Damage has not fully taken into account the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on the Wall, and has grave concerns. Read more about Al-Haq to UN General Assembly: Problems with the Proposed Register of Damage
As a Palestinian organisation dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights, Al-Haq wishes to express its appreciation of Finland’s recent expression of concern about the worsening humanitarian, economic financial and situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). While grateful for such statements and support, Al-Haq urges Finland to take more concrete steps to bring about an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories and ensure that Israel respect its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. Read more about Al-Haq: Call for Action by the European Union Presidency
United Nations officials voiced shock and dismay at Israel’s shelling of a residential area in the occupied Gaza Strip in which 18 Palestinian civilians were killed, including eight children and seven women, with Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling on the Israeli Government to cease its military operations there forthwith. In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Annan took note of the reported announcement by Israel of a full investigation and said he looked forward to its early results. He also called on the Palestinians to halt attacks against Israeli targets. The Security Council President for November, Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales of Peru, summoned the 15-member body for urgent consultations on the situation, including today’s shelling of the residential area in Beit Hanoun. Read more about UN officials voice 'shock and dismay' at deadly Israeli shelling of Gaza civilians
The Secretary-General was shocked to learn about the Israeli military operation carried out early today in a residential area in Beit Hanoun, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 18 Palestinians, including eight children and seven women. He extends his condolences to the bereaved families of the victims. Only last Friday, the Secretary-General expressed his deep concern about the rising death toll caused by the Israeli military operation in northern Gaza, given that such operations inevitably cause civilian casualties. The Secretary-General reminds both sides of their obligations under international humanitarian law regarding the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Read more about Secretary-General calls on Israeli government to cease its military operations in Gaza
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. Read more about UNRWA strongly condemns Israeli military operations in Beit Hanoun
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. Read more about UN human rights expert calls for urgent action on Gaza
