Ref:
110/2003

Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement,
Hamas, survived an assassination attempt by the Israeli military in Gaza city
this afternoon.  During an Israeli aerial
attack, a missile was fired at a residential building in central Gaza
city.  Sheikh Yassin and Ismail Haniya,
another leader of Hamas, both sustained moderate injuries in the attack.  Thirteen Palestinian civilians in the area
were also wounded.

According
to PCHR’s preliminary investigations, at around 16:00 this afternoon, Israeli
aircraft fired one missile into an apartment on the third floor of a
residential building in al-Daraj neighbourhood, a densely populated residential
area in the centre of Gaza city.  The
building is owned by Dr. Marwan Abu Ras, a lecturer in Arabic Literature at the
Islamic University in Gaza city, who was also injured in the attack.  Yassin and Haniya were exiting the building
after having apparently visited Dr Abu Ras when the missile struck.  The missile destroyed the third floor
apartment and the rest of the building sustained serious structural damage.  Several nearby buildings were also
damaged.  

Twelve
other Palestinians in the locality were injured, including three members of the
Abu Ras family.  All of the wounded,
except Yassin and Haniya, were taken to Shifa Hospital in central Gaza city.  Medical resources stated that 6 children were
among the injured.  

PCHR
condemns, in the strongest terms, this latest assassination attack by the
Israeli military.  PCHR is particularly
concerned at the escalating numbers of civilian casualties resulting from such
attacks.  These aerial attacks, often
launched in the day-time, into busy residential and commercial areas in the
Gaza Strip, demonstrate the increasing disregard of the Israeli military for
the lives of Palestinian civilians.  PCHR
calls again on the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties
to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to take immediate concrete steps to halt the
ongoing violations of international human rights and humanitarian law
perpetrated by the Israeli military against the Palestinian civilian population
in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.