Press Release
Israeli occupation forces in Gaza kill one in a civilian car:
Rafah and Beit Lahia shelled
Ref: 201/2000
Date: December 14, 2000
Time: 13:00 GMT
15:00 Palestine Time
The Israeli occupation forces opened fire on a Palestinian civilian car, killing a Palestinian man and wounding another four. According to testimony to PCHR from eyewitnesses who were in the targeted car, it is clear that the incident was another planned and willful crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians.
This morning, at about 8:30 local time, a jeep and a tank of the Israeli occupation forces were stationed on Salah El-Din Street (the main road between the north and south of the Gaza Strip), near the junction leading to the town of Deir El-Balah via the road known as Al-Heker. An Israeli occupation soldier in the tank raised his hand ordering to a stop a Palestinian taxi (a yellow van Hyundai) driven by Hani Hussein Hassan Abu Bakra, 32 years old, from Rafah. Seven Palestinians were in the car and on their way to Gaza City. Then, three Israeli occupation soldiers appeared on the tank, which was about 1.5 meters away from the taxi. Another seven Israeli occupation soldiers got out of the jeep, pointing their guns towards the taxi. They surrounded the taxi from the left and from behind. One of them asked the driver to show his identity card. When the driver moved his hand to get his identity card, the Israeli occupation forces positioned on the tank opened fire on the taxi. Then, according to the testimony, the Israeli occupation soldiers surrounding the taxi moved back and again opened fire on the driver and the taxi for more than two minutes. As a result, the driver Hani Abu Bakra was killed, and another four in the taxi were wounded.
Immediately after that, the Israeli occupation forces ordered all those who were in the taxi, including the wounded, to get out of the taxi. They released a girl who was in the taxi, and transferred three, who were wounded, by a military jeep to an unknown location. Nothing is known about their situation. Another two Palestinians in the car who were not wounded and one who was wounded, Mousa Mohammed Abu Mustafa, 54 years old, from Khan Yunis, were all handcuffed and then moved by a military jeep to the south, to a military post of the Israeli occupation forces at the junction leading to Kissufim Crossing at the borderline. This post is about 70 meters away from the location of the incident. The Palestinians who were not wounded are Ashraf Tolba Al-Farra, 23 years old; and Hussam Ibrahim El-Astal, 24 years old, from Khan Yunis. The three remained in the rain at the military post of the Israeli occupation forces for an hour before they were transferred to Kissufim Crossing at the borderline. In the military post of the Israeli occupation forces at Kissufim, Abu Mustafa received first aid treatment, and Al-Farra and El-Astal were interrogated for three hours before they were released, according to testimony to PCHR from one of them. At approximately 12:00 local time, the Israeli occupation forces handed over the body of the martyr Abu Bakra and the wounded Abu Mustafa to the Palestinian liaison forces in Khan Yunis. It was discovered that the martyr Abu Bakra received several bullets in the head, the neck, the chest and the limbs; and Abu Mustafa was wounded with two live bullets in the shoulder and the side. No more information about the other three Palestinians was available as the Israeli occupation forces have continued to detain them. They are believed to have been wounded with live bullets.
PCHR is continuing to investigate the incident, waiting for additional information about the other wounded passengers. It is certain, however, that the shooting was a willful killing committed by the Israeli occupation forces. It must be added to the growing record of killings committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians. Eyewitnesses asserted that no one in the taxi was armed and that none of them made any suspicious movements. The taxi stopped upon an order by the Israeli occupation soldiers. According to PCHR information, martyr Abu Bakra was arrested before by the Palestinian National Authority for being a member of the Hamas movement. He was held in a Palestinian Authority prison from 1996-1998.
Shelling of Rafah and Beit Lahia
Yesterday evening, at approximately 21:00 local time, the Israeli occupation forces shelled Palestinian houses in Qeshta neighborhood near the borderline in Rafah. PCHR’s field officer in Rafah reported that the source of shelling was a military post of the Israeli occupation forces at the borderline. The shelling caused severe damage to houses and the electricity and telephone networks as follows:
1) The house of Mohammed Salameh Eshtiwi was hit with three shells that penetrated walls, partially destroying furniture and breaking windows.
2) The house of Amina Shukri El-Rae’e was hit with an artillery shell that penetrated the kitchen and destroyed furniture.
3) Three artillery shells hit the electricity and telephone networks, cutting the two services to the area.
Last night, at approximately 22:30 local time, the Israeli occupation forces shelled a training post of the Palestinian General Security Directorate, at the seashore to the northwest of Beit Lahia. Israeli occupation forces at their military post, 700 meters to the north of the Palestinian training post, and a gunboat of these forces participated in the shelling using heavy and medium weapons. This morning, at approximately 3:30, the Israeli occupation forces shelled the mentioned training post again. PCHR’s field officer in the area reported that the shelling was sudden and was not preceded by any clashes.
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PCHR reiterates its call for the international community to immediately intervene to stop the killings and criminal acts perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians. PCHR calls in particular for:
1. Establishing without delay an independent commission of inquiry, in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1322 (2000), to carry out a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the abuses and killings perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians.
2. Convening a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention.
3. Immediately providing international protection for Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories in the face of the killings and criminal acts perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces and groups of Jewish settlers who move under the protection of these forces.
4. Use by the EU of effective political and economic measures with reference to Article 2 of the Euro-Israel Association Agreement, which calls for the respect of human rights.
5. Providing humanitarian and medical assistance for the Palestinian people whose living conditions are increasingly deteriorating because of the continued total siege imposed by the Israeli occupation forces on the entire occupied Palestinian territories.
6. Use by the international community and relevant bodies, including ICRC, of necessary measures to ensure the access of medical supplies and equipment and other humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians. The Israeli occupation forces have continued to deny entry of this material through Rafah Border Crossing (into the Gaza Strip).
“End”
