HTML clipboard
Press Release
Israeli forces continue ground operations throughout Gaza strip; at least three civilians killed, house demolitions ongoing
Date: 19 February 2002
Ref: 20/2002
PCHR expresses its deep concern over the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in light of ongoing and widespread operations by Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians and their property in the Gaza strip. Last night, Israeli forces killed three Palestinian civilians near the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza strip using flechette tank shells. At the time of this writing, PCHR is pursuing an emergency appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court to prevent Israeli forces from demolishing a number of Palestinian houses in the central Gaza strip.
PCHR is still gathering information on the latest incidents in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). In light of the Israeli army’s escalating and unprecedented ground operations in the Gaza strip, PCHR calls upon the international community to intervene immediately to end Israel’s ongoing violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, including grave breaches, namely war crimes.
Killing of Three Civilians near Khan Yunis
In an apparent willful killing, Israeli tanks shelled a home near Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza strip, killing three Palestinian civilians, including one child. At approximately 1900 on 18 February, a number of Israeli tanks left Morag settlement in the southern Gaza strip and approached a group of Palestinian homes in the Qizan an-Najar area, approximately 250m away. Inhabitants of the area reported that the tanks fired five shells towards a group of houses from a distance of approximately 100m. At least one shell hit the home of Samih al-Bahaysa wounding him and killing his wife, Mariam Awad al-Bahaysa, 36, and daughter Muna, 10. A neighbour, Abdel Wahab Ziad al-Najjar, was killed by Israeli forces as he tried to escape the area. In addition, six members of the al-Bahaysa family were injured:
Ramadhan 3, wounded in the back
Muhammed, 10, wounded in the chest
Amna, 12, wounded throughout the body
Heyda, 13, wounded in the chest
Sabrin, 17, wounded in the abdomen
Sadiya Mohammed al-Bahaysa, 30, wounded in the right leg
The victims were evacuated to Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis. According to hospital sources, they were wounded by flechettes. A PCHR fieldworker who conducted initial investigations at the scene found flechette shrapnel. Flechette shells are antipersonnel weapons, designed for use against concentrations of infantry on a battlefield, that disperse arrow-like shrapnel over a conical-shaped area several hundred meters in length.
At least ten other Palestinian civilians have been killed by such weapons in the Gaza strip since 10 March 2001, when their use in the conflict was first reported. On 30 December 2001, three children from Gaza strip aged 15 to 17 were killed by four flechette shells fired from a distance of 600m near Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza strip. On 9 June 2001, three Bedouin women from the same family in Qizan an-Najjar were killed in their house by flechette shells fired from Netzarim settlement, south of Gaza city.
PCHR reiterates that flechette shells are indiscriminate weapons, whose use in civilian areas is a breach of international humanitarian law. PCHR affirms that willful killings of civilians are a grave breach as defined in Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
PCHR Seeks Supreme Court Injunction Against House Demolitions
Earlier today, PCHR, through Israeli lawyer André Rosenthal filed an emergency appeal before the Israeli Supreme Court in an attempt to halt the demolition of a number of houses near Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza strip.
At 02.00 this morning, Israeli occupying forces surrounded a number of houses located southeast of Deir al-Balah, along the road between Gush Katif settlement bloc and Kissufim border crossing. Israeli forces informed the owners of the houses to evacuate before this afternoon. According to a PCHR fieldworker, the occupying forces began demolishing houses at 10.30 today. The first house demolished belonged to Mahmoud Suleiman al-Sameiri; at least another 18 houses are under threat of demolition.
PCHR reiterates that extensive, unlawful, and wanton destruction of private property not justified by military necessity is a grave breach as defined in Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Reprisals against a civilian populations are collective punishment in violation of Article 33.
PCHR strongly condemns violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli occupying forces and calls upon the international community to immediately fulfill their moral and legal obligations to ensure Israel’s respect of the Fourth Geneva Convention and end its occupation of the Gaza strip and West Bank (including east Jerusalem), as well as to provide immediate and effective international protection for Palestinian civilians in the OPT.
PCHR also calls for a thorough, independent, and effective international investigation into violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the OPT, including war crimes, and calls for those found responsible for such actions to be tried before an international court. PCHR notes that previous investigations by the Israeli army into possible violations by its personnel have frequently been carried out in camera without recourse to judicial procedures, thereby contributing to a culture of impunity for Israeli army personnel or citizens suspected of human rights violations in the OPT.
