Ref:
113/2003

In
the second such incident this week, early this morning Israeli occupying forces
surrounded and opened fire at an 8-storey apartment building in Hebron.  An 11-year-old child in a neighboring house
was killed in the attack and two other civilians were wounded.

Israeli
occupying forces claimed that Palestinian gunmen were hiding in the residential
building and had opened fire at Israeli troops. 
However, PCHR’s field worker in Hebron asserted that there were no signs
or reports of gunfire from inside the building. 
PCHR is concerned that the Israeli occupying forces will demolish the
property, following a similar Israeli military operation conducted in Nablus on
Friday 5 September 2003, in which a 7-storey apartment building was
demolished. 

According
to preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 02:00 on
Tuesday, 9 September 2003, Israeli occupying forces, including a tank, 3
armoured personnel carriers (APCs), 12 military jeeps and a military bulldozer,
moved into the Abu Katila neighborhood in northwest Hebron.  The military imposed a curfew on the
neighborhood and then surrounded an 8-storey apartment building, in which 13
families live.  They opened fire at the
building and ordered residents to exit the building.  Residents left the building and gathered in
its yard.  During this part of the
operation, a resident, Basem Fathi Al-Dajani, 37, was injured and then taken
away by Israeli soldiers.  Israeli
occupying forces conducted physical searches of the residents and then detained
them in a nearby nursery school.  At
approximately 06:00, Israeli occupying forces called out to gunmen who they
believed were still in the building to exit. Then, Israeli soldiers opened fire with heavy machine guns at the
building from the north, the west and the south.  At approximately 06:30, Israeli soldiers
began firing tank shells at the building. 
A number of apartments in the building sustained serious damage.  This shooting and shelling continued for more
than four hours.  At approximately 10:20,
11-year-old Tha’er Mohammed Mansour Sayouri was hit in the head by a piece of
shrapnel, killing him instantly.  According
to the child’s father, Tha’er was hit while he was in the kitchen of his home
which overlooks the western part of the targeted building.  The house is located approximately 45m to the
south of the targeted building. 
18-year-old Taratil Anwar ‘Abdul Hafez Abu Hamdiya, who was also at home
in a nearby building,  sustained a
shrapnel wound to her pelvis. 

PCHR’s
field worker in Hebron reported that at approximately 12:20, Israeli occupying
forces forced Palestinian journalists away from the area and also called on
residents of neighboring houses to leave the area.  At time of writing, Israeli occupying forces
remain surrounding the building. 

PCHR
remains deeply concerned at the ongoing perpetration of violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes, by the
Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians in the OPTs.  PCHR calls upon the international community,
in particular the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to
take immediate and concrete measures to ensure the protection of the
Palestinian civilian population.