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Press Release
Past 48 hours: Israeli occupation forces kill 13 Palestinians, destroy at least 50 homes and buildings, invade Beit Hanoun, bombard security installations
Ref: 86/2001
Date: 15 December 2001
Over the past 48 hours, Israeli occupation forces have dramatically escalated attacks across the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), killing at least 13 Palestinians. Israeli occupation forces have invaded civilian residential areas, bombarded security installations with warplanes, and demolished numerous houses and private properties. At this time, Israeli forces remain in control of the village of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip; residents of the village have reported to PCHR that shooting from Israeli forces in the village is ongoing at this time.
Also in the last 48 hours;
At 0330 on 13 December, Israeli occupation forces near the border between Egypt and the Gaza strip fired at civilian houses in Rafah refugee camp, opposite the Salah al-Din gate. Ramy Khamis al-Zo’rob, 13, was hit with a live bullet in the head while he was near his family’s home. He was later pronounced dead at Shifa hospital in Gaza city.
At 0430 on 13 December, Israeli occupation forces based in the “Neve Dekalim” settlement in the Gaza strip fired at several young men in the Khan Yunis refugee camp who were demonstrating against them. Ahmed Khamis al-Masri, 19, was killed with a bullet to the heart.
At 2300 on 13 December, Israeli bulldozers and armoured vehicles penetrated 300m into Khan Yunis refugee camp while firing machine guns. Palestinian civilian residents were forced to flee their homes for safety. Israeli bulldozers completely demolished 36 houses with their contents inside, rendering 350 people from some 60 families homeless.
At the same time, Israeli occupation forces penetrated 700m into al-Satar al-Gharbi area, in northern Khan Yunis. Israeli troops forcibly entered and searched homes and began interrogating civilian residents. They arrested an unidentified Palestinian civilian and remained in the area until 0200 the next morning.
During the evening of 13 December, Israeli F-16s bombarded the headquarters of the Palestinian police in Gaza city, destroying several buildings. Israeli Apache helicopter gunships bombarded an installation of Force 17, the Palestinian presidential guard. Both targets are located in the heart of the Rimaal neighbourhood of Gaza city, a civilian residential area. Numerous civilian buildings and residential homes were damaged in the attacks. The bombardment coincided with air raids in the West Bank, targeting a police stationed in Ramallah and the offices of the Fateh movement in Jenin.
In the early morning on 14 December, Israeli occupation forces invaded the West Bank village of Salfit and killed six Palestinians. Israeli forces imposed a curfew on the village and conducted massive house-to-house searches. They arrested 40 people before leaving the village at 10:00. Those killed were:
1. Mohammed Mohammed Aashour, 19, from Khan Yunis, an employee of the Palestinian Military Intelligence Service, wounded by two bullets in the chest and his right arm. He was run down by an Israeli army vehicle after being shot.
2. Assad Atayeh, 22, from Salfit, hit by several bullets in the chest. He was run down by an Israeli army vehicle after being shot.
3. Khalid Abu Yaqub, 27, from Kufol Haris, an employee of the Palestinian Military Intelligence Service, hit by a bullet in the head
4. Samih Jawad Abdel-Latif al-Danaf, 20, from Salfit, hit by a bullet in the chest and in the abdomen
5. Diah Nadi Ibdah, 19, from Salfit, an employee of the Palestinian presidential guard (Force 17), hit by a bullet in the head
6. Raziq Shabaan Haruzallah, 25, from Salfit, an employee of the Palestinian Military Intelligence Service, hit by a bullet in the neck
· At 0100 on 15 December, Israeli occupation forces invaded the village of Beit Hanoun in the northern part of the Gaza strip and remain there at the time of this press release. At least 37 military vehicles, including tanks, armoured personnel carriers, bulldozers, and jeeps entered the village from three different directions and imposed a curfew on the village. Five Palestinians were killed and eight injured, two of them critically. The Israeli occupation forces demolished a number of houses, including one belonging to Salah Shahadeh, a prominent leader of the Hamas movement. Israeli forces arrested 5 unidentified Palestinians and continue to open fire in the village. Those killed were:
1. Ahmed Mahmoud al-Bassiouni, 28, from Beit Hanoun, an employee of the Palestinian National Security Force, hit by bullets in the chest and right thigh. Sources at Shifa hospital said that his injuries had not been immediately life-threatening but that he had been deprived of medical attention for several hours before Israeli forces permitted his evacuation to hospital
2. Mahmoud Mohammed Ahmed, 17, from Tel al-Zatar
3. Three others who remain unidentified at this time.
· At 0400 on 15 December, Israeli occupation forces also invaded PNA-controlled areas near the Jabalya refugee camp and the village of Beit Lahia, both in the northern Gaza strip. They laid siege to two apartment buildings in Jabalya, the al-nada and al-Awda towers, as well as the al-Azbeh buiding near Beit Hanoun. At approximately 0830, Israeli forces pulled back from these areas but remain in Beit Hanoun and environs. According to eyewitnesses, the population was terrified by continued indiscriminate gunfire from Israeli forces.
PCHR condemns in the strongest terms these attacks by Israeli occupation forces against civilian targets, and demands that it cease its violations and grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is applicable international humanitarian law in the OPT. Furthermore, PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to take immediate steps to enforce Israel’s respect for the Convention and to secure immediate and effective international protection for Palestinian civilians in the OPT.
