Ref: 128/2013
Date: 25 December 2013
Time: 11:00 GMT

In an act of retaliation against Palestinian civilians, on Tuesday, 24 December 2013, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian child and wounded a woman and her two children and another civilian in the Gaza Strip. A number of houses and civilian objects, as well as training sites of Palestinian armed groups were also damaged. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns these crimes which were the outcome of a series of aerial and land attacks by Israeli forces after an Israeli had been killed by a Palestinian sniper.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 15:30 on Tuesday, 24 December 2013, Israeli tanks stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of the central Gaza Strip fired a number of shells at al-Maghazi refugee camp. Two shells hit a 2-storey house belonging to Ahmed and Bahaa’ Salman Abu Sbaikha. As a result, 3-year-old Hala Ahmed Abu Sbaikha died as a result of internal hemorrhage due to the heavy explosions. Additionally, Buthaina Talal Abu Sbaikha, 28, and her two children: Bilal, 4, and Mohammed, 6, were wounded by shrapnel to the lower limbs. The house was also damaged. The third shell hot a house belonging to Salman Salem Abu Sbaikha, 70. The house was damaged, but no casualties were reported.

In another attack, ‘Ali Shbair Rihan, 18, was wounded by 2 bullets to the right hand and thigh when Israeli forces positioned the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at al-Goul area in the northwest of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia.

In the same context, Israeli warplanes launched 4 airstrikes that targeted 3 training sites of Palestinian armed groups in Khan Yunis, Deir al-Balah and Beit Lahia, and a concrete factory in Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah. Moreover, Israeli tanks stations at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel fired a number of shells at agricultural areas in al-Zaytoun and al-Shujaiya neighborhoods in the east of Gaza City, but no casualties were reported.

PCHR is deeply concerned over these crimes especially in light of continuous Israeli threats against the Gaza Strip, and:

1. Emphasizes that these crimes are part of the escalated Israeli crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), which reflect deliberate use of excessive and disproportional force in disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians;
2. Calls upon the international community to take immediate and effective actions and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1; i.e., to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, their obligation under Article 146 of the Convention to 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 Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva Conventions.