Ref: 162/2003
In the early hours of Monday, 1 December 2003, Israeli
occupation forces, using excessive and indiscriminate force, killed four
Palestinian civilians during several incursions into the West Bank. These
unlawful killings represent the most recent war crimes perpetrated by Israeli
occupation forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
Two of the victims were killed when Israeli occupation
forces detonated explosive devices inside a house in the Sharafa area east of
Al Amari refugee camp, near Ramallah. Israeli occupation forces claimed
that the two civilians were wanted by the Israeli occupation authorities.
A six year old child and another Palestinian were also killed in separate
incursions Monday. PCHR maintains that these recent extrajudicial
killings, characterized by the use of excessive force and negligence concerning
civilian lives, represent a renewed escalation of the conflict carried out by
Israeli occupation forces.
According to PCHR’s investigation and eyewitness
testimony, at 12:30 Sunday night, a large contingency of Israeli occupation
forces entered Ramallah and the Al Bireh Refugee Camp from the north and the
south. Israeli forces advanced on three fronts. They moved into the
Balou’ Quarter in the north of Shourafa, the Al Amani Refugee Camp and Al
Massioun. During the incursion Israeli occupation forces indiscriminately
fired at civilian houses. As a result of the indiscriminate nature of the
Israeli gunfire, seven Palestinian civilians were injured, including a six year
old boy. The child, Moaied Mazzen Abid Hamdin, from Massioun, was shot by
a live bullet in the head. He was transferred to Ramallah
governmental hospital in critical condition. At 14:00 on Monday, 1
December, Moaied died of his wound.
Also on Monday, 1 December, in the morning Israeli
occupation forces surrounded the Ramahi building in the Shourafa area east of
the Al Amari Refugee Camp. Israeli soldiers began to indiscriminately
fire heavy machine guns at the ground floor of the three-story building.
At approximately 10:00, Israeli occupation forces detonated several explosive
devices inside the building. Two male civilians were killed by the
explosion. Israeli occupation forces later claimed that the two victims
were wanted by Israeli occupation authorities. At 12:30 an ambulance
transferred the two bodies to the Ramallah governmental hospital. The two
bodies were not immediately identified due to severe mutilation caused by the
explosion. At 14:30, the two victims were identified as:
In the Massioun area, Israeli occupation forces surrounded a
five-story, 200 sq. meter, house and a two-story, 180 sq. meter, house.
The houses belonged to two brothers: Wageeh and Fadel Kasawani. Another
Palestinian, Mohammed Salim Mahmud, was inside one of the houses at the time of
the incident. After surrounding the houses the Israeli occupying forces
destroyed the two buildings, killing Mohammed Salim Mahmud. The Israeli
forces later claimed that Mahmud was wanted by Israeli occupation
authorities. During the incursion Israeli occupying forces also arrested
two Palestinian civilians, whose identities have yet to be
released.
PCHR condemns these recent extrajudicial killings and
excessive destruction of civilian property as grave breaches of the Fourth
Geneva convention (article 147), further clarified as war crimes under
Additional Protocol 1 (article 85). Furthermore, PCHR calls upon the High
Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their legal
obligations to hold Israel accountable for war crimes committed within the OPTs.
