Ref:
60/2010

On
Tuesday evening, 13 July 2010, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed a
Palestinian woman and wounded another three civilians (an elderly man and two
women), all of the same family, after bombarding their home with artillery
shells. The Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights (PCHR) condemns this crime, which constitute the highest degree of
disregard for Palestinian civilians’ lives. PCHR stresses that failure to open investigations into the actions of
suspected Israeli soldiers officially encourages them to commit further
crimes. 

According
to investigations conducted by PCHR and statements given by a member of the
victims’ family, at approximately 20:45 on Tuesday, 13 July 2010, a number of women
from the Abu Sa’id family from the Gaza Valley village, in the central Gaza
Strip, were sitting near their house, which is approximately 400 meters from the
border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. At this time, Israeli troops positioned at the border fired two
artillery shells at the house; the troops were unprovoked and the witnesses
could not suggest any reason for the attack. As a result, Amira Jaber Abu Sa’id, 30, was wounded by shrapnel to the
shoulder and her sister-in-law, Sana’a Ahmed Abu Sa’id, 26, was wounded by
shrapnel to the feet. Members of the Abu
Sa’id family phoned the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to send
ambulances to the area. Ambulances
arrived at the area fifteen minutes later, but were unable to reach the
targeted house because IOF continued to fire on the area. The ambulances were forced to drive back to Deir
al-Balah. At this time, Ne’ma Yousef Abu
Sa’id, 33, remembered that her three-year-old child was still outside the
house. She went to find her child, but
IOF fired a third shell at her. Ne’ma
was killed instantly by shrapnel to the head and the abdomen. Her father-in-law, Jaber Abu Sa’id, 65, was
also wounded by shrapnel wounds to the right thigh. The family continued to call the PRCS. Approximately one and a half hours later, a
PRCS ambulance arrived at the scene after coordination with the Israeli authorities
through the Palestinian Liaison Office. The ambulance transferred the dead woman and the wounded to al-Aqsa
Martyrs Hospital in Deir al- Balah. Medical sources at the hospital affirmed that Ne’ma Abu Sa’id died of shrapnel
wounds from an artillery shell. The
wounds of the other persons were described as moderate. 

PCHR
condemns this crime, and:

1. Stresses that this crime is a
   part of a series of continuous crimes committed by IOF in the Occupied
   Palestinian Territory (OPT) with total disregard for the lives of
   Palestinian civilians. 
2. Calls upon the international
   community to immediately intervene to stop such crimes, and calls upon the
   High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention Relative to the
   Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to fulfill their obligation
   under Article 1 of the Convention to ensure respect for the Convention in
   all circumstances, as well as their obligation under Article 146 to search
   for and prosecute those who are responsible for perpetrating grave
   breaches of the Convention as such breaches constitute war crimes
   according to Article 147 of the Convention and the Protocol Additional to
   the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and Relating to the Protection of
   Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I).