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PALESTINIAN CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

PRESS RELEASE

Ref: 01/2003

Date: 02 January 2003

In a Further Escalation of Israeli Illegal Military Actions, 25 Houses Have Been Demolished in Rafah. This Thursday morning, the second of January 2003, Israeli forces instigated another illegal action by destroying 25 refugee houses in the Rafah refugee camp rendering 85 families including 313 people, homeless. Those civilians were forced to leave their houses at about 01.00hrs and forced to search for shelter as the bulldozers moved in on their property. According to the PCHR’s field work unit and the testimonies of those whose houses were damaged, approximately more than 30 heavy vehicles moved approximately 200m into Block J in the Rafah Refugee camp adjacent to the Egyptian border. They shelled the area intensely. Palestinian civilians who were sleeping were shocked and terrified by these actions and were forced to leave their houses to find shelter. The armoured bulldozers demolished the houses over their furniture and belongings. 14 houses were totally demolished while 2 others were partially demolished rendering 33 families, comprised of 180 people, homeless. A number of these people, particularly from among the women and children, were evacuated to Hospital for treatment.

Then the armoured vehicles moved east to Block L adjacent to the border with Egypt. The soldiers called upon the residents to evacuate their houses through loud hailers. This was at approximately 02.30hrs. The bulldozers then demolished 9 Palestinian houses rendering 25 families, comprised of nearly 130 family members, homeless. The families were forced to flee from the area due to intensive gunfire from the Israeli soldiers. This wide scale military operation is reminiscent of the other illegal actions conducted by the Israeli forces within the Rafah refugee camp. On the 7-12 of January 2002 the Israeli forces demolished 77 Palestinian houses while more than 100 houses were rendered uninhabitable. This humanitarian crisis rendered more than 100 Palestinian families including 750 people homeless. The worse scenes saw unarmed Palestinian civilians, including hundreds of women, children and the aged, escaping from their houses in fear of the intensive Israeli shelling.

We feel disappointed that the International community and the more active powers are silent about these illegal and abusive actions against the Palestinian civilians. The flagrant human rights violations conducted by the Israeli forces require the action of an independent international movement to ensure that the Israelis respect International Law. We feel this would help stop the retaliatory actions that are being carried out against the civilian population.

PCHR condemns the escalation in these illegal actions against unarmed civilians and reiterates its call for an immediate intervention by the international community and calls upon the high contracting parties to the Forth Geneva Convention of 1949 to stop these actions. Over the past twenty seven months, the Israeli occupying forces have carried out many illegal actions within the Rafah area. PCHR calls upon the international community to break their silence and fulfill their international obligations.

PCHR considers that; 1) these illegal actions do not occur without a political void created by certain world powers, a void that allows these actions to occur under the guise of ‘Security Operations’ and in the name of self defence. 2) The Israeli claim that the demolished houses were used for military purposes is untrue and the international community and agencies are invited to visit the area to verify that the Israelis demolished inhabited houses.

PCHR calls upon the United Nations to visit the area immediately in order to conduct an investigation and to take the necessary steps to bring about an end to these illegal actions. The International community is also asked to contribute to the efforts to build shelters for the affected Palestinian families. The PCHR also asks that the international agencies provide medical support for the affected families.

Public Document

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For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 7 2824776 – 2825893

PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. Web:http://www.pchrgaza.org