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Press Release
Israeli abuses against Palestinian civilians escalates over the last 24 hours:
four Palestinian civilians, including two children, killed
Ref: 8/2001
Date: March 3, 2001
Israeli abuses against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories escalated significantly over the last 24 hours. In three separate incidents, Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinian civilians, one of whom was a 9-year-old child. A fourth Palestinian civilian, a 13-year-old-child, died from a wound he received in the head on February 27, 2001. Furthermore, dozens of Palestinian civilians were wounded with live and rubber-coated metal bullets fired by the Israeli occupation forces.
On Friday, March 2, 2001, at approximately 1:00 local time, Mustafa Hmadan Abdel-Qader El-Ramlawi, a 42-year-old mentally handicapped man from Al-Boreij refugee camp, was killed instantly when he was hit in the head by an artillery shell fired by an Israeli tank positioned at Al-Shuhada’ (Netzarim) junction, to the south of Gaza City.
According to PCHR’s investigation, the shelling was willful and unjustifiable since it occurred when no threat was posed to the Israeli soldiers’ lives. According to PCHR’s investigation, El-Ramlawi was walking on Salah El-Din Street (the main road between the north and south of the Gaza Strip), from Al-Boreij refugee camp to Gaza City. When he arrived at Al-Shuhada’ (Netzarim) junction, the Israeli tank positioned approximately 100m west of the junction, fired an artillery shell, killing him instantly. Israeli forces then detained his body for three hours, transferring the body to the Palestinian side at 4:00 local time.
The Israeli military spokesman justified the attack by saying that anyone who is at Al-Shuhada’ (Netzarim) junction at night is suspected of engaging in “terrorist activities.” This statement proves PCHR assertions that Israeli forces shoot at any movement in the area. This incident proves that Israeli forces unjustifiably resort to lethal and excessive force before using less lethal means, in violation of the principles of the international humanitarian law and the right to life and physical safety.
At approximately 14:30 local time, Israeli occupation forces, positioned in Psagot settlement, east of Al-Bireh, fired indiscriminately on Palestinian houses in Wadi Al-Jenan neighborhood of Al-Bireh. As a result, the nine-year-old child Obai Mohammed Darraj, was killed with an explosive live bullet that entered his left shoulder and exited his chest. The child died upon evacuation to Ramallah hospital. At the time he was shot, the child was inside his family’s house, approximately 500m from the settlement. According to eyewitnesses, there were no clashes in the area when the Israeli occupation forces opened fire.
At approximately 16:30 local time, Israeli forces shot Abdel-Karim ‘Eissa Abu ‘Asba, 23, from Qalandya refugee camp, south of Ramallah. Abu’Asba was killed by a live bullet that entered his back and exited his chest. According to eyewitnesses, Abu ‘Asba was coming back home from a nearby grocery on the main road next to his refugee camp, Ramallah-Jerusalem road. The Israeli occupation forces indiscriminately opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators on the road. Abu ‘Asba was shot from a distance of 100m. He was not participating in the clashes.
After the Friday prayer, clashes erupted between Palestinian civilians and Israeli forces at the northern entrance of Al-Bireh. Israeli forces fired live and rubber-coated metal bullets at Palestinian civilians, wounding a number of them. They also fired canisters of a highly effective black gas similar to the gas used in Khan Yunis three weeks ago. Among the wounded were four medical personnel of the Palestinian Medical Relief Committees. They are:
1) Nasser Jamjoum, 32, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the mouth that broke his front teeth;
2) Arafat Zayed, 18, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the left foot;
3) Riham Abu Joma’a, 18, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the left shoulder; and
4) Rami Abu Dayeh, 20, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the head.
In Deir Nezham village, near Ramallah, similar clashes erupted between Palestinian civilians and the Israeli occupation forces after the Friday prayer. These forces opened fire, wounding six Palestinian civilians, including four children, with rubber-coated metal bullets. They are:
1) Mohammed Abdel-Qader Mosad, 14, wounded with two rubber-coated metal bullets in the right thigh and the right hand;
2) Ahmed Tayseer Yaqoub, 10, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the left thigh;
3) Mohammed Faraj Mohammed, 8, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the mouth;
4) ‘Anan Kahldoun Abdullah, 10, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the pelvis;
5) ‘Emad Mohammed El-Tamimi, 44, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the right leg; and
6) Zeid Fraj Mohammed, 25, wounded with a rubber-coated metal bullet in the left hand.
On Friday evening, the child Mohammed Mahmoud Helles, 13, from Al-Shojaeya neighborhood in Gaza City, was pronounced dead at Shifa’ hospital in Gaza City, from a wound in the head he received by the Israeli occupation forces on February 27, 2001. The child Helles was put into the intensive care unit at Shifa’ hospital in Gaza City. According to the PCHR investigation and eyewitness testimony published in PCHR’s Weekly Report, the incident occurred on Tuesday, February 27, 2001, near Al-Mentar (Karni) Outlet, to the east of Gaza City. For more information see PCHR’s 8th weekly report, covering the period 21-28 February 2001.
At approximately 16:00 local time, the Israeli occupation forces positioned at the Rafah border, fired artillery shells, heavy caliber bullets and medium caliber bullets at Palestinian houses in Al-Barazil neighborhood in Rafah, wounding:
1) the six-year-old child Mohammed Fathi Qeshta, with shrapnel in the head, the right leg and the right arm; and
2) the eleven-year-old child Mukhtar Tawfiq Barbakh, with shrapnel in the right hand.
PCHR reiterates its condemnation of Israeli abuses and killings against Palestinian civilians. PCHR also reiterates its call on the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to meet their obligations under the Convention and take the steps necessary to provide immediate protection for Palestinian civilians and their properties.
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