Field Update
04 February 2010
Bomb Detonated near ICRC Convoy in Northern Gaza Strip
Today afternoon, unknown persons detonated a bomb near a
convoy of vehicles belonging to the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) near Beit Hanoun town in the northern Gaza Strip. A
vehicle was damaged, but no casualties were reported. This latest
attack is part of the state of security chaos and proliferation
of weapons plaguing the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 14:15 on Thursday, 04
February 2010, a bomb planted by unknown persons exploded near a convoy
of 4 vehicles belonging to the ICRC while traveling on Saladin Road
opposite to al-Shawa fuel station near Beit Hanoun town in the northern
Gaza Strip. The explosion of the bomb, which had been planted two
meters to the east of the road, resulted in smashing the front and side
windows and damaging the front of the last vehicle in the convoy, which
holds a plate number (900441-13759). No casulaties were reported. Mr.
Eyad Nasser, Spokesman of the ICRC in Gaza, stated that the vhicles were
transporting 8 international staff members of the ICRC towards Beit
Hanoun (Erez) crossing.
The Palestinian police arrived at the area immediately
and opened an investigation into the attack. An officer in the expolsives
engineering unit in the Palestinian police, Midhat Ebrash, stated that
the bomb was planted two meters away from the tract on which the convoy
was traveling, and that shrapnel from the bomb spread over the area. He
added that his unit was still checking the shrapnel to identify the kind
of the bomb.
PCHR strongly condemns this attack on the ICRC's convoy
by unknown persons, and calls upon the Attorney-General's office to
genuinely investigate it and bring the perpetrators to justice.
