Israeli forces attacked a civilian demonstration in Rafah, killing and injuring dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children. Thousands of residents gathered to march in protest against the ongoing Israeli assault on Rafah since Monday. When the first marchers approached Tel as-Sultan, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into the crowd. Eyewitnesses also reported that Israeli tanks stationed at the nearby military post at Tel Zu’rub fired tank shells and opened fire. At time of press, eight civilians have been registered as killed, including four children. A further 50 Palestinians have been injured, including ten who remain in critical condition. Read more about Israeli attack on civilians at protest in Rafah 

IDF forces launched an incursion into the Rafah Refugee Camp early this morning. Israeli officials describe the incursion as the largest military operation since Operation Defensive Shield in the Spring of 2002. Throughout the day B’Tselem has received reports of severe harm to the civilian population, including deaths, injury to medical teams, obstruction of medical care, house demolitions, and damage to infrastructure including roads, water and electricity. Read more about Today's Events in Rafah 

So far this month, more than 2,000 Palestinians, most of them refugees, have been made homeless, some for a second time in the past two years and more house demolitions have been promised by the Israeli authorities. Almost 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been made homeless in the last three years. During the 1930s the British forces in Palestine started to use house demolition as a means of quelling the indigenous uprising against British rule. Since 1948, it is estimated that Israel has demolished well over 200,000 Palestinian homes. Read more about A history of destruction 

Since the early morning Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has received complaints concerning obstruction of medical teams from aiding the wounded in Rafah Refugee Camp. The road from Rafah to Khan Younis has been closed by the Israeli army. Therefore, as of now, 12wounded persons cannot be evacuated to the European Hospital- an advanced medical center. This leaves Yousef Al Najar Hospital – which does not have an intensive care unit and is lacking needed equipment – to deal alone with all the people and the enormous load. Israeli forces did not allow two ambulances to reach 8 wounded and 3 dead people; it also did not allow them to return to the hospital. Read more about Israel obstructs medical aid 

The Geneva-based human rights organisation the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) condemns the lifting of a temporary injunction banning the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza by the Israeli Supreme Court. “The decision of the Court to lift the injunction yesterday paves the way for further illegal demolitions to be carried out by the Israeli military. These demolitions constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions of 1949. This decision clearly shows Israel’s total disregard for international human rights and humanitarian law. If the highest Israeli judicial body sanctions such crimes, it is clear that Palestinians have no recourse to any form of justice,” said Scott Leckie, the Executive Director of COHRE. Read more about "These demolitions constitute a war crime" 

Yesterday, Monday 17 May, 2004, Israeli occupying forces supported by launched an incursion into Rafah in a military offensive unprecedented in scale since 2002. At time of publication, 12 Palestinians, including one child, have been killed and more than 20 Palestinians have been injured. This, the second military incursion into Rafah in less than one week, began yesterday morning when IOF amassed on all sides of Rafah blocking all major and minor roads out of the town and refugee camp. Read more about Israeli forces kill 12 Palestinians in Rafah as Israeli army starts demolition 

Israel’s unjustified destruction of thousands of Palestinian and Arab Israeli homes as well as vast areas of agricultural land has reached an unprecedented level and must stop immediately, Amnesty International said today. In its latest report “Under the rubble”, Amnesty International notes that over the last three and a half years, Israeli armed forces have demolished more than 3,000 homes, leaving tens of thousands of men, women and children homeless or without a livelihood. Read more about Amnesty: "Evictions and demolitions must stop" 

At least 30 Palestinians have died in Israeli attacks over the last four days. Hundreds of buildings have been demolished in the last two weeks, leaving over 1,160 Palestinians homeless. As the violence escalates and the death toll mounts in the Gaza Strip, Al-Haq calls on the international community to intervene and uphold their legal obligations to ensure that the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people are protected. House demolitions are a clear and blatant violation of international law. Read more about Deteriorating Situation in Gaza Strip Requires International Intervention