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| PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PRESS RELEASE |
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Ref: 151/2004
Date: 12 October 2004
Time: 12:30 GMT
A Schoolchild Seriously Wounded by Israeli Troops in Khan Yunis While Sitting at Her Desk
PCHR strongly condemns the latest attack committed by Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) this morning, when they opened fire at an elementary school in Khan Yunis, wounding a 11-year-old schoolchild when she was sitting at her desk. PCHR is increasingly concerned for attacks by IOF on educational institutions, threatening the lives and safety of children, even in places where full protection is supposed to be offered to them in all circumstances.
According to preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 11:00 on Tuesday, 12 October 2004, Israeli troops positioned in the vicinity of “Neve Dekalim” settlement, west of Khan Yunis, opened fire at an UNRWA elementary school in Khan Yunis refugee camp. A Palestinian schoolchild, 11-year-old Ghadeer Jaber Mukhaimer, was seriously wounded by a live bullet in the chest while she was sitting at her desk.
This latest attack was the second of its kind in the same area in two days, as on Sunday, 10 October 2004, 16-year-old Jihad Sa’id Sarhan, was wounded by a live bullet in the right hand when he was sitting at his desk. Palestinian educational institutions have been frequently attacked by IOF, and PCHR has documented dozens of such attacks, which injured dozens of schoolchildren while they were at school. In one of such attacks, on 7 September 2004, 10-year-old Raghda ‘Adnan al-‘Assar, also from Khan Yunis refugee camp, was injured. She died from her injury on 22 September 2004. According to investigations conducted by PCHR, IOF have recently escalated their attacks on Palestinian children throughout the Gaza Strip, as in the past two weeks, 30 Palestinian children were killed and at least 200 others were injured by Israeli troops, mostly in the northern Gaza Strip.
PCHR is gravely concerned for such grave breaches of international law and international humanitarian law perpetrated by IOF against Palestinian children and their right to life, security and physical integrity. PCHR calls upon the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, to immediately intervene to stop Israeli attacks that have affected the lives, security and physical integrity of Palestinian civilians, and to provide protection for these civilians. PCHR calls also upon international organizations, especially UNESCO and UNICEF, to immediately intervene to sop Israeli violations of the right of Palestinian children to education, which is ensured by international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
Public Document
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PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: [email protected], Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
