Ref: 119/2008
Date: 30 December 2008
Time: 12:15 GMT
On the 4th
Day of IOF Offensive on the Gaza Strip, the Number of Palestinians
Killed Mount to 310, Mostly Civilians, Including 37 Children and 9 Women
Israeli
Occupation Forces (IOF) have continued their offensive on the Gaza Strip
for the fourth consecutive day. They have increasingly bombarded
civilian facilities, mosques and houses, without paying attention to the
lives and safety of Palestinian civilians. Israel claims that such
civilian facilities, mosques and houses were related to Hamas, but
investigations conducted by PCHR indicate that IOF have used excessive
lethal force and that the majority of the facilities that have been
targeted are public and private property located in densely populated
areas, making Palestinian civilians pay a heavy price from their lives
and property. All of the victims of recent attacks are civilians, and
dozens of houses have been heavily damaged. Due to the current siege
imposed on the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction or reparation of the
houses that have been destroyed or damaged is extremely difficult.
According to
investigations conducted by PCHR, IOF have bombarded 23 houses since the
beginning of the current offensive: 4 in Rafah; 4 in Khan Yunis, two in
the central Gaza Strip; 9 in Gaza City; and 4 in the northern Gaza
Strip. As a result of these attacks, 9 Palestinian civilians, including
5 children and two women, have been killed and 59 others have been
wounded.
IOF have also
bombarded 5 houses located in densely populated areas throughout the
Gaza Strip: one in Khan Yunis; one in the central Gaza Strip; one in
Gaza City; and two in the northern Gaza Strip. As a result of these
attacks, 8 Palestinian civilians, including 5 children and a paramedic,
have been killed and 34 others, including a number of children and
women, have been wounded.
Additionally,
IOF have bombarded 37 civilian facilities. IOF have bombarded the campus
of Islamic University, two schools, 9 workshops and shops, an animal
farm, 3 charities, al-Aqsa Satellite Television in Gaza City. IOF have
bombarded two workshops, the building of the Municipality of Rafah and a
warehouse of medicines in Rafah. In Khan Yunis, IOF have bombarded 3
workshops, one shop, a phone communication office and the building of
the Municipality of Bani Suhaila village. In the central Gaza Strip, IOF
have bombarded a workshop. In the northern Gaza Strip, IOF have
bombarded 3 workshops and a control room of Palestine Telecommunication
Company. As a result of these attacks, 11 Palestinian civilians,
including 3 children, have been killed and 30 others have been wounded.
A number houses located neat these facilities have been heavily damaged.
Thus, the
number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the IOF offensive
on the Gaza Strip has mounted to 310, mostly civilians, including 37
children and 9 women. Additionally, hundreds of Palestinians have been
wounded.
PCHR is
extremely concerned over this unprecedented escalation by IOF, and:
1)
Condemns these crimes,
which are part of a series of continuous crimes committed by IOF in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) with total disregard for the lives
of Palestinian civilians, considering them a form of collective
punishment against the Palestinian civilian population in violation of
article 33 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War.
2)
Holds Israel responsible
for the lives of Palestinian civilians in all circumstances. Under the
international law, the existence of armed resistance does not in any
case justify the use of such excessive force disproportionately and
indiscriminately.
3)
Warns that the lives of
Palestinian civilians are endangered in light of threats vowed by
Israeli political and military officials to expand military operations
against the population of the Gaza Strip.
4)
Calls upon the
international community to immediately intervene to stop such crimes,
and calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention,
Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, to
fulfill their obligation under article 1 of the Convention to ensure
respect for the Convention in all circumstances, as well as their
obligation under article 146 to search for and prosecute those who are
responsible for perpetrating grave breaches of the Convention, as such
breaches constitute war crimes according to article 147 of the
Convention and the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12
August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International
Armed Conflicts (Protocol I).
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