Ref: 67/2012
Date: 21 June 2012
Time: 11:00 GMT

On Wednesday afternoon, 20 June 2012, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed a 13-year-old Palestinian boy, and wounded his elderly father, who is blind, and another 3 children, including a child who sustained serious injuries, when the IOF bombed a farm in the south of Gaza City where the children were playing. Since last Monday, the IOF have killed 8 Palestinians, including 3 civilians, and wounded 14 Palestinians, including civilians, mostly children.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 15:00 on Wednesday, 20 June 2012, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a farm located behind the college in Tel al-Hawa in the south of Gaza City. A number of the owner’s family wason a picnic on the farm atthe time. The bombing resulted in the death of Mamoun Mohammed Zuhdi al-Dam (13) from al-Shaaf neighborhood.Mamoun was playing football on the farm, which is owned by his mother,AmnaHassouna(50). In addition, Mamoun’s father, Mohammed Zuhdi Abdul Nabi al-Dam (67), who is blind, sustained shrapnel wounds in his head and neck. Another 3 children who were playing in a neighboring farm owned by Tala al-Dahshan, and who were on a picnic with their families, sustained wounds:

1. Afnan Salah AddinSaleh(8) from al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza, who sustained shrapnel wounds in his eye;
2. Afnan’s sister, MaryamSalah AddinSaleh(16), who sustained shrapnel wounds in her foot and hand; and
3. Their cousin Islam Younis Abdul WahabKeshko (14) from al-Zaytoun neighborhood, who sustained injuries in his abdomen. Islam’s wounds are described as serious.

On Tuesday, 19 June 2012, the IOF used excessive lethal force to kill 2 Palestinians, including a child, in Deir al-Balah. According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at dawn on Tuesday,the IOF positioned at the border east of al-Msadar village in the east of Deir al-Balah, which is in the middle of Gaza, fired 3 artillery shells at 3 Palestinians that had tried to gain access to Israel to look for work. This resulted in the death of 2 Palestinians, whose bodies were deformed, and a third Palestinian, who was wounded. The dead are:

1. Mohammed BassamShukri Abu M’eileq(17) from al-Msadar village, whose head was cut off and who sustained shrapnel wounds throughout his body; and
2. Yousef Saber Msallam al-Talbani(19) from al-Maghazi village, whose right foot was cut off and who sustained wounds throughout his body.

These incidents are part of the new escalation that the IOF have started since last Monday morning, 18 June 2012. TheIOF have launched many air raids on different parts of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death of 8 Palestinians, including 3 civilians, and wounding 14 more Palestinians, including civilians, mostly children.

PCHR renews its condemnation of the above crimes and views them with grave concern, and;

1. Warns of aggravation of the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip under the military escalation bythe IOF, accompanied by an ongoing tightened closure that impacts all aspects of the life of the Palestinian civilian population.
2. Calls upon the international community to immediately take action to stop such crimes, and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1, which stipulates that “the High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances,” and their obligations under Article 146 which requires that the Contracting Parties prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and under Protocol I Additional to Geneva Conventions.