Ref: 110/2021
Date: 21 August 2021
Time: 10:00 GMT
On Friday, 21 August 2021, 41 civilians, including 24 children, and a journalist, were injured due to IOF’s suppression of dozens of protesters in eastern Gaza.
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 17:30 on Saturday, 21 August 2021, thousands of Palestinians of different ages headed to Malakah area in eastern Shuja’yia neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, in order to participate in a mass festival organized by the Palestinian factions in commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the arson attack on al-Aqsa Mosque, marking today. Thousands gathered in the Return Camp, where the Great March of Return (GMR) activities used to be held back in 2018. Speeches were delivered and different activities were held; meanwhile, dozens of protesters headed to the border fence, which is a 2-meter concrete wall with barbed wire stock and holes through which the Israeli snipers’ weapons appear in addition to a sand berm topped by a tank behind the wall. A number of protesters approached the border fence while others chanted national slogans and threw stones at the fence. Via the holes in the wall, IOF’s snipers fired live and rubber-coated bullets and teargas canisters at the protesters, who were at the time peaceful. As a result, some of them were injured. Meanwhile, other protesters approached the concrete wall and threw stones at the holes, where the snipers’ rifles were positioned amid the latter’s ongoing shooting from many places.
Meanwhile, a young man who was near the wall took out a gun and fired several bullets at one of the snipers’ pits. In consequence, IOF intensified their shooting at the protestors in the area until 19:00 causing a large number of injuries among civilians. In sum, IOF shooting rendered 41 Palestinians wounded, including 24 children, and Assem Mohammed Abdullah Shehada, a 35-year-old journalist from Gaza for the National Media Agency. The journalist sustained live bullet shrapnel wounds in the face. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, there are two cases in critical condition among the wounded, one is a 13-year-old child who sustained a live bullet in the head.
From their side, the Israeli occupation’s military announced that a soldier from the Border Guards sustained critical wounds due to shooting coming from the Gaza Strip; the soldier was transported to hospital for treatment.
PCHR observations indicate that IOF purposefully used snipers through holes in the wall constructed along the Gaza Strip border to inflict more damage and victims among Palestinian civilians. This conduct reflects a political decision to use excessive force against protestors, as has been documented as systemic and recurrent behavior by IOF throughout the Great March of Return protests in 2018 and 2019.
According to the statements given by speakers and Palestinian factions during and after the protest, its purpose was to express the rejection of the Israeli imposed closure and collective punishment policies against the Gaza Strip, particularly since the May 2021 IOF military aggression. To this date, significant punitive measures against Gaza have been put in place by the Israeli authorities, including the stalling in the reconstruction process and the ban on the import and export of dozens of goods, despite the cease-fire agreement.
PCHR emphasizes that IOF must cease its use of excess force, and ought to respond to the legitimate demands the protestors had, particularly those relevant to the siege and ending collective punishment measures. PCHR upholds the position that this is the only true gateway to prevent a devastating humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, PCHR asserts that the continuous IOF attacks against civilians practicing their right to peaceful protesting is a vagrant violation of IHL and international human right law and is in breach of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as the Fourth Geneva Convention.
