Ref: 12/2008
Date: 24 February 2008
Time: 10:30 GMT
PCHR strongly
condemns the Israeli war crime perpetrated in the evening of Saturday, 23 February
2008, east of the town of Beit Hanoun
in the northern Gaza Strip. Three Palestinian civilians were killed by an
Israeli rocket fired as they were on a picnic in the Nazaz area east of the
town.
The Center’s
preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 15:40 on Saturday,
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) fired a surface-to-surface missile from one of
its bases along the Gaza Strip border. The rocket targeted three friends in a
bamboo-hut in a field belonging to the family of one of the victims in the
Nazaz area east of Beit Hanoun. The target area was approximately 1.2
kilometers away from the border with Israel. The rocket landed in the
middle of the three civilians who were preparing food during their picnic to
the field. They were instantly killed and dismembered. Their remains were taken
to the Beit Hanoun Hospital.
They were identified as:
– Mohammad Talal El-Za’anin (20),
university student from Beit Hanoun.
– Ibrahim Ahmad Abu Jarad (20),
driver from Beit Hanoun.
– Mohammad Ibrahim Hasanain (22), an
employee from Jabalia.
After the
incident, an IOF spokesperson was quoted on the Yediot Aharonot webside
claiming that the army targeted armed Palestinian rocket launchers. However,
the Center’s investigation refutes the claim, and affirms that they were
civilians on a picnic in an open field. They were roasting meat and waiting for
other friends to join them for dinner. The bombardment occurred before the
others arrived.
PCHR
reiterates its condemnation of this crime, and: