Press Release

Brigadier General Abdel-Mouti El-Saba awi killed while inactivating an artillery shell fired by the Israeli occupation forces:
Israeli occupation forces shoot at Palestinian laborers in Erez industrial zone;
Rafah shelled

Ref: 206/2000
Date: December 19, 2000
Time: 13:00GMT
           15:00 Palestine Time

This morning, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire at Palestinian laborers working in Erez industrial zone, which is under the control of these forces.  As a result, E mad El-A thamneh, 21 years old, from Beit Hanoun, was wounded by a live bullet in the right knee; and Mohammed Nemer Kuhail, 20 years old, from Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, was wounded in the left hand.  Eyewitnesses said that chaos and noise spread during the checking of Palestinian laborers because of the continued provocative actions and strict searches by the occupation forces.  This morning, at approximately 5:00 local time, about 1,200 Palestinian laborers gathered at the gate of Erez industrial zone in order to enter the zone to start their work.  In the checking room, the Israeli occupation forces had a group of trained dogs to check the clothes and belongings of Palestinian laborers.  This took place under strict escort by the Israeli occupation forces as dozens of Israeli occupation soldiers were deployed on high alert and with their guns directed towards Palestinian laborers.  The Israeli occupation forces responded to the protests of Palestinian laborers by opening fire and wounding two of the laborers.

This morning, at approximately 10:00, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on a number of Palestinian young men demonstrating near Salah El-Din Gate on the borderline.  As a result, two Palestinian demonstrators were wounded by shrapnel from live bullets.  They were evacuated to Al-Joneina hospital in Rafah.  They are:  Mohammed Suleiman El-Nahhal, 17 years old, wounded by shrapnel in the neck; and Walid Abdel-A al, 19 years, wounded by shrapnel in the abdomen.  PCHR s field officer in Rafah reported that clashes erupted when Israeli occupation forces, positioned in a military post at the borderline, near Salah El-Din Gate, attempted to move tanks forward into Al-Barazil neighborhood adjacent to the borderline.

Yesterday afternoon, at approximately 13:30, 57-year-old Brigadier General Abdel-Mouti El-Saba awi, who is a member of the Revolutionary Council of Fatah Movement and deputy chief of police for operations, planning and organization, was killed by shrapnel from an artillery shell he was trying to inactivate in Al-Sudaneya area, at the seashore of Beit Lahia.  According to a statement issued by chief of Palestinian police, martyr El-Saba awi  was trying to inactivate an Israeli artillery shell that was brought to the police engineering unit from one of the areas that was shelled by the Israeli occupation forces last week in Deir El-Balah.  The artillery shell exploded and shrapnel scattered, injuring him throughout his upper body, in the neck, the chest, the pelvis and the legs.
 

Shelling of Residential Neighborhoods in Rafah

This morning, at approximately 1:00 local time, Israeli occupation forces positioned at a military post near Salah El-Din Gate on the borderline in Rafah shelled Palestinian houses in Block O area.  The houses that were shelled are 50-300 meters away from the military post of the Israeli occupation forces.  PCHR s field officer in Rafah reported that the damage was as follows:
 1) The house of Hussein and Mahmoud Yousef El-Dam, a 400-square-meter, two-story house, in which 26 people live, had an artillery shell hit a veranda on the first floor, destroying a wall.  Another artillery shell hit the second floor, penetrating a window and causing damage to furniture.  Additionally, the glass of a Mercedes vehicle near the house, owned by Akram Khamis El-Rae e, was broken.
 2) The house of Ahmed Sae id Oweida, a 160-square-meter, two story-house, in which six people live, was hit by five artillery shells two penetrated walls of the staircase, two hit cement pillars, and the fifth one penetrated walls of the second floor, making a large hole and destroying the sewage network.
 3) The house of Amina Shukri El-Rae e, a 160-square-meter, asbestos-roofed house, in which 19 people live, was hit by an artillery shell that penetrated the asbestos roof causing severe damage.  Residents previously left the house because of frequent shelling in the area.
 4) The house of Akram Khamis El-Rae e, a 150-square-meter, one-story house, in which 10 people live, was hit by two shells that made large holes in external walls.
 5) The house of Muffid Ibrahim Abu Taha, a 120-square-meter, asbestos-roofed house, in which 12 people live, was hit by a shell that caused damage.

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PCHR reiterates its call for the international community to immediately intervene to stop the killings and criminal acts perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians. PCHR calls in particular for:

1. Establishing without delay an independent commission of inquiry, in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1322 (2000), to carry out a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the abuses and killings perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians.
2. Convening a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to ensure Israel s compliance with its obligations under the Convention.
3. Immediately providing international protection for Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories in the face of the killings and criminal acts perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces and groups of Jewish settlers who move under the protection of these forces.
4. Use by the EU of effective political and economic measures with reference to Article 2 of the Euro-Israel Association Agreement, which calls for the respect of human rights.
5. Providing humanitarian and medical assistance for the Palestinian people whose living conditions are increasingly deteriorating because of the continued total siege imposed by the Israeli occupation forces on the entire occupied Palestinian territories.
6. Use by the international community and relevant bodies, including ICRC, of necessary measures to ensure the access of medical supplies and equipment and other humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians. The Israeli occupation forces have continued to deny entry of this material through Rafah Border Crossing (into the Gaza Strip).
 

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