Ref: 15/2008

Date: 29 February 2008

Time: 13:00 GMT   

IOF Continue Perpetration of War Crimes in the Gaza Strip: 18 Palestinians, including 6 Children, Killed in 24 Hours

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) utterly condemns escalating IOF war crimes against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. Since Thursday, 28 February, escalating IOF attacks targeting the entire Gaza Strip have killed 18 Palestinians, nine of them unarmed civilian and six of them children. In addition, another 68 Palestinians, 61 of them civilians, have been injured. The injured include 15 children and 9 women. The Center demands that the international community take immediate and effective steps to stop the continuation of these war crimes being committed against Palestinian civilians.  

Preliminary investigations indicate that IOF have targeted a number of civilian residential areas and facilities in the northern Gaza Strip, and have intensified indiscriminate military attacks against civilians, including children. At approximately 18:35 on Wednesday, 27 February, thirteen year old Bilal Kamel Hejazi and twelve year old Suliman Khalil Hamada were killed by IOF whilst near an empty rocket launching ladder in Amer Project area west of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. In addition, another five children were injured.

On the same day, sixteen year old Amjad Hafeth El-Sakani was shot and killed by IOF at approximately 14:30. He was from Sheja’eya Quarter in eastern Gaza City, and was killed whilst near the Martyrs Cemetery east of the town of Jabaliya. 

Twenty four hours later, another four children were killed by IOF whilst playing football in Jabaliya town. At approximately 15:20 on Thursday, 28 February, IOF fired two rockets at a group of children playing football in an open area near their house in El-Qerem Street east of Jabaliya town in the northern Gaza Strip. Four children were killed, and two others seriously injured. The dead children have been identified as:

·        Mohammad Na’im Hammouda (9)

·        Ali Munir Dardouna (8)

·        Dardouna Deeb Dardouna (12)

·        Omar Hussein Dardouna (14)

The children's bodies were dismembered by the rockets. Investigations by PCHR fieldworkers have confirmed there were no members of the armed resistance in the targeted area, which was calm at the time the children were killed.  

At approximately 15:45 on Thursday, 29 February, IOF fired two rockets at a group of resistance members traveling in a car near Omar Bin Abd El-Aziz Mosque in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. The rockets struck nearby the vehicle, killing a civilian bystander – 19 year-old Ramiz Mustafa Naser. Four other civilians, including three of the passengers in the vehicle, were injured.  

At approximately 18:00, on the same day, sixteen year old Tal’at Saleh El-Nmeilat was killed by IOF whilst herding goats to the west of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. His body was dismembered.  

Later the same day, at approximately 23:10, IOF warplanes bombed the offices of the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions in Saftawi Street, west of Jabaliya. The 5-story building, located in a densely populated area, was completely destroyed. A large number of nearby houses were seriously damaged, and at least fourty civilians, including 10 children, sustained shrapnel injuries. The injured included 2 infants and 5 women. PCHR notes that Hamas took over this building after the June 2007 clashes.

At approximately 05:00 on 29 February, IOF fired a rocket at a group of resistance members near El-Tawfiq Mosque in the Sheja’eya Quarter of Gaza city. Two of them, Ahmad Salim El-Huweiti (26) and Amjad Yehya El-Amriti (25) were killed instantly and a third was seriously injured.

At approximately 05:30 on the same morning, IOF fired a rocket at a group of resistance activists in the Sha’af area in Sheja’eya Quarter. 19 year old Lu’ay Fayeq Qanita was killed instantly. Four other civilians were injured, including 2 children.

At approximately 10:00 on Thursday, IOF fired a rocket at a group of resistance activists in Zaytoun Quarter east of Gaza City. Two of them, Hamza Khalil El-Hayya (22) and Jawad Khamis Tafish (23) were killed instantly, and another two men were seriously injured. One of the injured men, 17 year old Rami Ramadan Khalifa, died the following morning.

At approximately 17:00 on the same day, IOF fired a rocket at a police station in the Beach [refuge] Camp west of Gaza City. Two civilians, including a child, were killed instantly. They have been identified as 19 year old Mohammad Sa’adallah El-Helou and 17 year old Ala Ayman El-Bornou.  

At approximately 20:20, IOF fired on a commercial vehicle carrying two resistance members that was near Shifa Hospital in central Gaza City. 30 year old Mohammad Mas’oud El-Helou, and 26 year old Khalil Ibrahim Ahel, were both killed instantly, and a civilian bystander was injured. A number of houses also sustained extensive damage.

At approximately 22:20 on Thursday, 28 February, IOF fired a rocket at a vehicle belonging to the Palestinian Electricity Company, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Two of the company’s employees were in the vehicle. 21 year old Mohammad Suliman Shameya was killed instantly, and 38 year old Bahi El-Adgham Kamel El-Farra was seriously injured.

PCHR reiterates its utter condemnation of these serious war crimes and:

-      Affirms these crimes are a continuation of Israeli war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) in general and the Gaza Strip in particular. These crimes are indicative of IOF utter disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians.  

-      Reiterates its grave concern about an escalation in crimes being committed against civilians in light of statements by Israeli political and military leaders.  

-      Calls upon the High Contracting Parties (HCP) of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) to fulfill their legal obligation under Article 1 of the Convention and ensure that it is respected by all parties under any circumstances. The Centre calls upon the HCP to fulfill their obligations under Article 146 of the Convention to pursue persons suspected of perpetrating grave violations of the Convention, which are defined as war crimes under Article 147 of the Convention.