Today, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed five Palestinian civilians, including two children and an elderly woman, in two separate attacks on Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Fourteen other civilians, including five children and a woman, have been wounded. In the early morning, IOF warplanes attacked a house in Gaza City after having ordered its evacuation. These latest crimes have come in the context of the continued IOF offensive on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and have followed a statement by an IOF spokesman that IOF would attack houses under suspicion to prevent militant groups from accumulating weapons. Read more about Five Palestinian Civilians Killed in Northern Gaza Strip
We, express our grave concern that the on-going armed conflict in Lebanon, Israel and Gaza poses serious human rights and humanitarian threats to the civilian population. We call on the parties to the conflict to fully respect the principle of proportionality in the conduct of hostilities and to refrain from indiscriminate attacks on civilians causing loss of life and mass displacement. We urge them to immediately agree on the cessation of hostilities in order to permit unrestricted and secure passage of all humanitarian assistance. Read more about UN Human Rights Experts: Protect the rights of civilians
During a military operation in Nablus that began on the night of 18 July, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) occupied the premises of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), blocking the entrance and hindering the movement of ambulances, patients and staff. This action shows grave disregard by the IDF for its obligation to respect and protect medical units. Since 19 July, the ICRC has repeatedly raised this issue with the Israeli authorities and called on the IDF to immediately leave the premises of the PRCS. The PRCS runs emergency medical services and a rehabilitation centre for disabled children on its premises in Nablus. Read more about ICRC calls on Israeli army to immediately leave Palestine Red Crescent premises in Nablus
B’Tselem’s initial investigation indicates that, during an incursion by Israeli forces into Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip, on 17 July 2006, soldiers seized control of two buildings in the town and used residents as human shield. After seizing control of the buildings, the soldiers held six residents, two of them minors, on the staircases of the two buildings, at the entrance to rooms in which the soldiers positioned themselves, for some twelve hours. During this time, there were intense exchanges of gunfire between the soldiers and armed Palestinians. Read more about Israeli soldiers use civilians as human shields in Beit Hanun
PRCS condemns the Israeli targeting of the health organizations and medical staff as well as the series of Israelis attacks at medical staff and particularly at PRCS staff. PRCS confirmed that Israeli Army attacked the medical center in Al-Maghazi camp in Gaza and wounded a PRCS Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Mr. Anwar Juma Abu Huli. In addition, a PRCS ambulance was shot in Bet Lehya receiving two bullets causing damage to the vehicle. PRCSEMT Anwar Juma Abu Huli, 40 years old, was wounded today by the Israeli Army while he was on duty. Read more about PRCS condemns attacks on health organizations and PRCS staff
As the world’s attention is drawn to the widening conflict in Lebanon, it is extremely important that the deepening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is closely monitored and urgently addressed. The depth of this crisis cannot be understood without grasping the acute dependency and vulnerability of the population of Gaza. Amongst the most densely populated place in the world, Gaza has been occupied by Israel for almost 40 years. Its population of 1.4 million, most of whom are refugees, remains very heavily dependent on Israel, as well as the donor community. Read more about UN health rights expert: Independent enquiry into alleged war crime in Gaza
From the predawn hours till the publication of this press release, IOF have killed nine Palestinians and injured 81 others, including 14 children and a paramedic. Six of the dead, including two children, fell in El-Maghazi refugee camp, and the others fell in Nablus. IOF had attacked Nablus and besieged governmental buildings, claiming that there were wanted people inside them. IOF continue to detain the bodies of the fallen in Nablus after taking them from an ambulance. PCHR is concerned over the continued Israeli aggression in El-Maghazi and Nablus, which could lead to additional casualties among Palestinians and to additional destruction of their property. Read more about IOF Attack El-Maghazi Refugee Camp in Gaza and Raid Nablus
This is the leaflet that was dropped on Beirut by Israeli planes on 13 July 2006, amidst the Israeli bombing campaign that has targeted the city and its infrastructure. Coming amid the killing of Lebanese civilians and the destruction of Lebanese infrastructure, including major portions of the Beirut airport, its tone of alleged concern for Lebanese “safety” and the “prevention of harm” is cruelly ironic: “For your safety and because we want to prevent any harm coming to uninvolved civilians, you must refrain from being present in places where Hizballah is deployed of from which it operates.” Read more about Leaflet dropped on Beirut by Israeli forces
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued the aggression on the Gaza Strip for the 4th consecutive week, inflicting additional casualties among Palestinian civilians and destruction of civilian property. IOF continue to systematically target infrastructure and governmental institutions, to undermine the Palestinian political system. Further, IOF continue to hold nearly 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip hostages after closing all its borders, and prevent food and supplies from entering the Strip freely. The situation is the worst in years, and could escalate into a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe. Read more about IOF Occupy & Isolate Beit Hanoun, and Destroy the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
They say that when one loses an appendage, the sensation never leaves. One is visited by a “referred pain”. Since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza, approximately one third of all Palestinians have, at one time or another, languished in Israeli prisons, contributing to a vacuum in family life. Today, as Israel and the United States use the capture of three Israeli soldiers to justify civilian massacres in Gaza and Lebanon, nearly 9,000 Palestinians are held in Israel’s detention facilities. Read more about Ghost World, Palestine
