HTML clipboard
Press Release
Israeli forces shell the Gaza Strip from the air, sea and land;
The Gaza Strip is again divided into three zones;
The Israeli forces attack Beit Hanoun
Ref: 18/2001
Date: April 17, 2001
On Monday, April 16, 2001, Israeli occupation forces, using combat helicopters, gunships, and surface-to-surface missiles, shelled Palestinian security services’ headquarters in the Gaza Strip, including the main headquarters of the Palestinian police in Gaza City.
This shelling coincided with an Israeli attack Beit Hanoun in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to PCHR’s documentation, the continuous shelling of Beit Hanoun has killed a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces and wounded more than 20 Palestinian civilians and security personnel–one of whom is in critical condition. The shelling also severely damaged several facilities in the Palestinian security services headquarters. Furthermore, Israeli forces divided the Gaza Strip into three isolated areas and prohibited movement between them.
Yesterday, at approximately 22:00 local time, the Israeli forces, using combat helicopters and gunboats, shelled a Palestinian President’s Guards (Force 17) compound in the west of Deir El-Balah, wounding one of its members, Madhi Khalil Madhi, 35, from Khan Yunis, with an artillery shell. Mahdi’s his left foot and right hand were severed and he is still receiving medical care in the intensive care unit at Shifa’ hospital in Gaza City where he is in critical condition. Artillery shell shrapnel also hit a number of nearby houses, wounding Intissar Suleiman Baraka, 35, in the neck; and Tamer Mohammed Abu Saqer, 24, in the left hand. An artillery shell also hit the nearby Al-Barouk mosque, severely damaging its walls. Moreover, the second floor of the Fatah Movement headquarter in Deir El-Balah (and the main headquarters of the Movement in the middle area of the Gaza Strip) was destroyed when the headquarters were bombed with four surface-to-surface missiles launched from inside Israel east of the town.
At approximately midnight, several headquarters of the Palestinian security services in Gaza City were hit with surface to surface missiles launched from locations inside Israel east of the city. Missiles hit the main headquarters of Palestinian police in Al-Remal neighborhood and a compound of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service in Al-Nasser neighborhood. Two missiles also fell near the headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service in Tal El-Hawa neighborhood. The shelling coincided with similar shelling by Israeli gunboats that targeted the Palestinian President’s Guards (Force 17) on the coast in Sheikh ‘Ejlin neighborhood. A number of Palestinian civilians and security personnel were evacuated to Shifa’ hospital to be treated for shrapnel wounds or falls during the shelling.
Yesterday, at approximately 18:40 local time, Israeli forces shelled a Palestinian Border Forces site in the north of Beit Hanoun, located in the north of the Gaza Strip. The shelling lasted for approximately 90 minutes, during which time two members of the Palestinian Border Forces were wounded with artillery shrapnel. At approximately midnight, Israeli forces resumed intense shelling of the area while at the same time, Israeli units, reinforced with tanks and bulldozers, attacked the border areas in the northeast of Beit Hanoun.
PCHR’s field officer in the northern area of the Gaza Strip reported that Israeli occupation forces razed large areas of Palestinian agricultural land and demolished four sites of the Palestinian Border Forces in a strip of land 3km long and 1km wide inside areas under control by the Palestinian National Authority. This land razing and destruction is still continuing at this time and there are fears that this area might be re-occupied. As a result of shelling, Mohammed Ramadan Nemer El-Masri, 23, a member of the Palestinian Border Forces from Beit Hanoun, was killed today at approximately 4:20 local time with an artillery shell. Additionally, another four members of the Palestinian Border forces were wounded with artillery shell shrapnel.
PCHR expresses its profound concern regarding the qualitative and quantitative Israeli escalation over the past few days. Last Saturday, April 14, 2001, Israeli occupation forces broke into the Salah El-Din Gate are on the border in Rafah, demolishing 16 Palestinian houses and several stores. They also intensively shelled Palestinian houses, wounding more than 40 Palestinian civilians and making more than 170 homeless. On Tuesday, April 10, 2001, Israeli forces raided the western area of Khan Yunis refugee camp and demolished 30 Palestinian houses, making more than 500 Palestinian civilians, mostly children, women and the elderly, homeless, and wounding dozens with live bullets and artillery shell shrapnel.
In light of this escalation, PCHR calls for immediate international intervention to cease Israeli killings and war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. PCHR also calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to meet their obligations under the Convention and provide international protection for Palestinian civilians.
