8 January 2009
When the missile stuck, I lay down with my daughter under me. Everything filled up with smoke and dust, and I heard screams and crying. After the smoke and dust cleared a bit, I looked around and saw 20-30 people who were dead, and about 20 who were wounded. Some were severely wounded and some lightly. Read more about Testimony: Gaza family massacred, survivors detained
8 January 2009
Israeli forces carried out four attacks during a three-hour ceasefire yesterday, including an attack on a car in Jabaliya refugee camp, and shelling with heavy machine guns of a group of women carrying food to their homes in Ezbet Abed-Rabu eastern Jabaliya, injuring three of them. Read more about Red Cross prevented from accessing injured, starving survivors in Gaza
7 January 2009
“My four children are terrorized because of the attacks — especially the youngest [two] aged six and 11. With severe bombardments outside and lack of electricity inside, they refuse to go to the toilet on their own at night. They want someone to accompany them. We are also subject to psychological pressure. A few hours back I heard that a friend had died.” Read more about Testimony: "I fear nothing now"
7 January 2009
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Israel has committed war crimes and should be prosecuted in an international court, says Raji Sourani, head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza. “The repeated bombing of clearly marked civilian buildings, where civilians were sheltering, crosses several red lines in regard to international law,” Sourani told IPS. Read more about Israel may face charges for war crimes
7 January 2009
Al Mezan Center, which has maintained its monitoring activities throughout the current crisis, has collected evidence that the Israeli forces deliberately targeted civilian structures and medical teams. In its attacks, the Israeli military used missiles and shells that are laser-guided, which indicates that civilian targets were hit intentionally, and not collaterally as Israel alleges. Read more about Israel's Gaza offensive death toll rises to 668
6 January 2009
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - At least 42 Palestinians sheltering in a UN school in the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City were killed Tuesday afternoon after two Israeli tank shells exploded outside the school. Hundreds of terrified Palestinians, desperately trying to escape the bombing, had sought shelter there assuming that a clearly marked school would not be targeted. Palestinian sources reported that the school was one of 26 residential buildings hit Tuesday. Read more about Israel attacks schools, ambulances
6 January 2009
Air raids continued to target dozens of houses and border areas. Last night air raids targeted repeatedly targeted security installations that had been targeted during the past days. At the same time, artillery shells and missiles destroyed dozens of homes, wiping out entire families and seriously raising civilian casualties. Read more about Two schools housing refugees shelled in bloodied Gaza
5 January 2009
On the 10th day of its aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has seriously escalated its military operations, targeting mostly civilian targets, particularly homes. Air strikes and artillery shells hit tens of homes. IOF also targeted medical facilities and ambulances. A Civil Defense team was hit as it tried to fight a fire following the bombardment of a clinic. Read more about Eighty-nine children and 30 women amongst Gaza's confirmed dead
5 January 2009
GENEVA (IRIN) - The UN has warned that power networks were down in large parts of the Gaza Strip on 4 January, with hospitals relying on generators. Without power for pumps, 70 percent of Gazans are estimated to be without tap water. Israel has been blocking fuel supplies, and stocks are dwindling, the latest (4 January) report by the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territories said. Read more about Water, sewage system "collapsing" in Gaza, says official
4 January 2009
I turned on the generator to turn on the light. Then we heard the sound of planes in the sky. I heard a buzz and within a few seconds, I found myself under ruins. Everything collapsed so quickly, like in an earthquake. The smoke was thick. I couldn’t see any of my family, who had been sitting with me a few moments earlier. Abdallah Kashku testifies to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem on the Israeli bomb strike that killed his daughter and sister-in-law. Read more about Testimony: "They found her body in the kitchen"