Palestinian Civilian and his Two Children Wounded in Israeli Attack on al-Zaytoon Neighborhood in Gaza City

Ref: 135/2011

At dawn Sunday,
11 December 2011, two Palestinian children and their father were wounded as a
result of an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, one of a series of recent
Israeli attacks against densely populated civilian areas.

According to
investigations conducted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), at
approximately 02:40, an Israeli warplane launched four missiles on a vacant
house belonging to a leader of the Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades, the
armed wing of Hamas, Imad ‘Aqel, 42.  The
two-storey house is located behind ‘Ein Jalout School in al-Zaytoon
neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. 
The four missiles directly hit the roof of the house, damaging it.  A neighboring 250-square-meter, two-storey house
belonging to Mohammed Mahmoud Badwan, 57, in which 17 individuals live, was
heavily damaged.  Because of the shrapnel
scattered in the house, Ashraf Mohammed Mahmoud Badwan, 35, received shrapnel
wounds to the face, and two of his children were also wounded in the incident:
Sondos, 10, who was seriously wounded by shrapnel to the head, and Mohammed, 8,
who was wounded by shrapnel to the right leg. 
The two children were wounded while they were asleep on the asbestos
contaminated second floor.

It should be
noted that this crime is the second within the last three days to cause
civilian casualties, including children, due to targeting densely populated
civilian areas in the Gaza Strip.  Last
Friday, a child and his father were killed in al-Nasser neighborhood in Gaza
City as a result of a similar bombardment. (See PCHR’s press release issued on
09 December 2011).

PCHR strongly condemns these latest crimes, and:

1. Holds IOF responsible for the deterioration of the
situation, and strongly condemns IOF’s disregard for the lives of Palestinian
civilians;

2. Believes that it is time, in response to Israel’s
ongoing challenge for the Conventions, to convene a conference of the High
Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention to take prompt action to protect
Palestinian civilians and their property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.