This week, 28 Palestinians, 17 of whom, including two children and a woman, are civilians, were killed by IOF. Each of the two children was killed together with the father of each. Six of the victims were extra-judicially executed by IOF in three separate attacks. Forty-five Palestinians, including 14 children, IOF have continued to launch air strikes on houses and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip; five houses were destroyed and a number of others were severely damaged. IOF conducted 30 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and six others into the Gaza Strip. IOF arrested 48 Palestinian civilians, including seven children, in the West Bank, and eight others in the Gaza Strip. Read more about Twenty-eight Palestinians killed this week in OPT
Today, Adalah submitted a comprehensive report entitled “The Accused” to the Attorney General of Israel, Menachem Mazuz. The report addresses the shortcomings and failures of the law enforcement authorities - first and foremost the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigation Unit (“Mahash”) - in investigating the killings of 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel and the injury to of hundreds of others during the October 2000 protest demonstrations. The 133-page report primarily exposes Mahash’s negligent work and its failure to fulfill its duty to investigate the criminal offenses committed by police officers and commanders in October 2000. Read more about Report on failures of October 2000 investigations submitted to Israeli Atty. Gen.
In the midst of increasing assertions by Israeli government officials over the smuggling of arms in the Gaza Strip and impending military operations inside it, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) escalated its attacks on Gaza and killed four Palestinians during new incursions last night and today. According to field reports, at approximately 6pm yesterday, 17 October 2006, about 15 IOF tanks and armored vehicles entered the Ezbet Abedrabu neighborhood in the east of Jabalia, some 2km from the borderline. They leveled land and streets in the area under heavy firing. Read more about Israeli forces kill four in Gaza; major expansion of operations is feared
At approximately 10:45 on Tuesday, 17 October 2006, armed clashes were resumed between the families of al-Masri and Abu Taha near the desalination plant in Khan Yunis. As a result, a child and a woman passing by the area were wounded. At approximately 13:30 on Sunday, 15 October 2006, members of the al-Masri family burnt to a house and four shops belonging to the Abu Taha family during the funeral procession of Eyad Maher al-Masri, 13, who died from a wound he had sustained on 8 October 2006 during clashes between the two families. Soon after, armed clashes erupted between the two families in Jourat al-Lout area. Read more about Child dies and seven injured as a result of family clashes in Gaza
The good news that Condoleezza Rice “wants the Israeli government to explain restrictions on Palestinian-Americans traveling on U.S. passports in Israel and the Palestinian territories” spread like wildfire in the occupied Palestinian territories. Rice has apparently listened to something from the Palestinian side! Maybe she saw the ads that the Palestinian grassroots Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-Entry into the oPt had placed in all the local papers during her most recent visit - a photograph of her and Abbas with the caption “Wish we could be there to help you!”, meaning that Americans, and Palestinian-Americans especially, are being denied entry to the oPt, and so are also denied the opportunity to play a role in the peacemaking she was seeking. Read more about Denial of Entry: Rice's Probe and the Israeli Administration
In the past two days, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed 10 Palestinians and wounded 11 others, including a child, in the Gaza Strip. Six of the victims, including two civilians, were killed during an incursion conducted by IOF into the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalya. The remaining victims were extra-judicially executed by IOF in Beit Lahia and Gaza City. According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 09:20 on Friday, 13 October 2006, an IOF drone fired a missile at a civilian car that was traveling in the center of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. Read more about Ten Palestinians Killed in Gaza Past Two Days
On 6 October 2006, the Israeli Attorney General rejected an appeal filed by Adalah against the decision of the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigations Unit to close the investigation file against Border Police officers who opened fire on and killed 28-year-old Mr. Moursi Jabali, and shot and injured his companion, Mr. Shihab Jaber. Adalah included in the appeal numerous testimonies from eyewitnesses, who indicated that the Border Police officers began to open fire on the car without issuing any prior warning, either by calling out to the two men, or by firing shots into the air as a sign for the car to stop, as they are obliged to under the internal police guidelines for opening fire. Read more about Police officers who shot Arab motorists not indicted
Not only has there not been any significant improvement in Palestinian movement in recent months but the number of Israeli checkpoints and other obstacles has actually increased, hindering access to essential services, according to the latest United Nations update published today. “The closure system is a primary cause of the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned. “It restricts Palestinian access not only to basic services such as health and education, but divides communities from their land and one another, places of work and sites of religious worship.” Read more about Israeli obstacles to free movement in Palestinian territories mount, UN reports
The number of Palestinian children who have been killed so far this year in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip almost doubles the number killed for the whole of 2005, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Many of the children died after being shot by Israeli troops during military operations or were killed in Israeli air strikes on houses. On Thursday, 13-year-old Suhaib Kadiah became the 92nd Palestinian child to be killed this year when she was shot dead by Israeli troops during an incursion into the Khan Younis area of Gaza. Read more about Number of Palestinian children killed doubles
The number of people killed in crimes in occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) has increased exponentially in 2006 compared to the previous years, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights (PICCR). “This year has witnessed a significant rise in the number of insecurity victims,” said Ma’moun Iteily of the PICCR’s department which documents cases of insecurity and human rights violations. According to the PICCR statistics, 270 people were killed in the oPt by 10 October. By contrast, 93 people were killed in 2004 and 176 in 2005. Read more about Victims of insecurity increase in oPt
