March 31, 2001
The outcome of the anniversary of the Land Day: Six martyrs and more than 100 casualties The Israeli occupation forces use explosive bullets and a highly effective kind of gas against Palestinian civilians; Palestinian residential neighborhoods are s
The outcome of the anniversary of the Land Day:  Six martyrs and more than 100 casualties   The Israeli occupation forces use explosive bullets and a highly effective kind of gas against Palestinian civilians;   Palestinian residential neighborhoods are s

 

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Press Release

 

The outcome of the anniversary of the Land Day:

Six martyrs and more than 100 casualties

 

The Israeli occupation forces use explosive bullets and a highly effective kind of gas against Palestinian civilians;

Palestinian residential neighborhoods are shelled

 

 Ref: 11/2001

Date: March 31, 2001

 On Friday, March 30, in a serious escalation in the excessive use of force and killings they perpetrate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians, killing six and injuring approximately 100, during marches organized in Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps on the 25th anniversary of the Land Day.  The Land Day is a symbolic national occasion for all the Palestinian people at home and in Diaspora, in which they perpetuate the memory of six Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli security forces in Sakhnin in Gallil on March 30, 1976, when those forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians who were demonstrating in protest to the confiscation of their land, and to Israeli attempts to uproot them from their homeland.

 Yesterday, the West Bank city of Nablus witnessed the bloodiest clashes, during which the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians, killing five and injuring dozens.  After the Friday prayer, a large mass demonstration moved from the city’s biggest mosque towards the city’s southern entrance.  Israeli occupation forces, which had been intensively deployed there since the morning, opened fire on Palestinian civilians, killing:

       1)         ‘Ayesh Ghazi Mustafa Zamel, 19, from Deir El-Hatab village, with a an explosive bullet in the head;

       2)         Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Marahil, 16, from Balatta refugee camp, with an explosive bullet in the neck;

       3)         Sha’ban Sa’id Salloum, 31, from Balatta refugee camp, with an explosive bullet in the head that cut it from the rest of his body; and

       4)         Murad Hani Sharai’a, 20, with an explosive bullet in the head that exploded part of it.

 Furthermore, 94 Palestinian civilians were evacuated to Raffidia and Al-Ittihad hospitals in Nablus, after having been wounded with live and rubber-coated metal bullets or due to having inhaled tear gas which was intensively used by the Israeli occupation forces during Nablus clashes.  Among the wounded were 32 who were wounded with live bullets, including Khaled Shehadeh Dhib Nahla, 28, from Nablus, who was critically wounded with a live bullet in the abdomen.  At approximately 20:30 local time, Nahla was pronounced dead at Raffidiah hospital in Nablus.  Medical sources at Raffidia hospital stated that the Israeli occupation forces used a kind of explosive bullets against Palestinian civilians, which exploded parts of the heads of three victims.  Shrapnel of such bullets were found in the heads of martyrs Zamel, Zalloum and Sharai’a, in the neck of martyr Abu Marahil, and in the abdomen of martyr Nahla, whose kidney, spleen and arteries were torn.  The same sources asserted that the Israeli occupation forces also used a highly effective gas, that left unfamiliar symptoms on inhalers, similar to that used first in Khan Yunis on February 12, 2001 (for more details about such symptoms, see PCHR’s Weekly Report on February 15, 2001.) 

 At the northern entrance of Al-Bireh, in the afternoon, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians who were demonstrating more than 100m away.  As a result, Mohammed ‘Abdel-Muhsin El-Wawi, 21, from Al-Am’ari refugee camp, was killed with a live bullet in the head.  Additionally, another 16 civilians were wounded with live and rubber-coated metal bullets, and dozens suffered from suffocation due to tear gas inhalation. 

 Also yesterday afternoon, a demonstration that involved approximately 300 Palestinian civilians moved from Nusseirat refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip towards Al-Shuhada’ (Netzarim) junction, to the south of Gaza City.  Israeli occupation forces opened fire and used tear gas against civilians, wounding seven with live bullets and their shrapnel.  Among the wounded were Anwar ‘Abdel-Rahman El-Sharif, 18, from Nusseirat refugee camp, who was wounded with a live bullet in the left side of the chest; and the child Jehad ‘Ezzat El-Hour, 13, also from Nusseirat, who was wounded with a live bullet in the abdomen.  The two are still receiving treatment at Shifa’ hospital in Gaza City.  Additionally, some young men suffered from suffocation due to tear gas inhalation.

 A similar demonstration moved in Friday afternoon also towards Beit Hanoun (Erez) Crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip.  Israeli occupation forces, positioned in the vicinity of Erez industrial zone, opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators, wounding 11, mostly children, with live and rubber-coated metal bullets.

 Also yesterday afternoon, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians who were demonstrating near Al-Mentar (Karni) Outlet.  As a result, 11 civilians were wounded with live bullets, including the child Ibrahim Tayseer Yassin, 15, from Al-Shati refugee camp, who was critically wounded with a live bullet in the head; and the child Hani Khamis Baker, 14, from Gaza, who was also critically wounded with a live bullet in the head.    

 Also on Friday, at approximately 16:30 local time, the Israeli occupation forces fired artillery shells and heavy and medium caliber bullets at Al-Taktouri, Al-Sheikh, Bab Al-Zawia, Al-Karantina, Abu Sneineh, Khllet Hadour, Sh’aba and Nemra neighborhoods in Hebron.  According to eyewitnesses, Israeli occupation forces, positioned in Ramay Yishai and Avraham Avino settlement centers inside Hebron, and the Kharsina and Hagai settlements, to the east and southwest of Hebron, participated in such shelling, which has been unprecedented in intensity since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada.  Dozens of Palestinian civilians were wounded with shrapnel of artillery shells and heavy and medium caliber bullets, and dozens of houses and civilian facilities were severely damaged.

 On the same day, at approximately 18:30 local time, Israeli occupation forces, positioned in a military site near Kishori factory in Tulkarm, shelled the southern neighborhood in the city.  Such shelling, in which heavy, medium and light machine guns were used, resulted in wounding two Palestinian civilians with shrapnel and another one with a live bullet in the right hand.  Additionally, a number of houses and buildings were severely damaged.

 Also on the same day, at approximately 21:00 local time, Israeli occupation forces, positioned in the vicinity of Gani Tal settlement, in the northwest of Khan Yunis, shelled Palestinian houses to the west of Al-Satar Al-Gharbi area in Khan Yunis.  Such shelling coincided with similar shelling from military sites of the Israeli occupation forces in the vicinity of Al-Tuffah roadblock and Neve Dekalim settlement, that targeted Palestinian houses in the west of Khan Yunis refugee camp, and Al-Nemsawi (the Austrian) neighborhood in the southwest of the city.  Such shelling, which lasted up to Saturday, 2:30 local time, resulted in dozens of houses, whose residents left due to having been frequently shelled by the Israeli occupation forces.

 PCHR is deeply worried in regard to such new escalation in the use of excessive force by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians, despite the peaceful nature of the marches they organized on the 25th anniversary of the Land Day .  Such escalation comes following the failure of the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution that would provide international protection for Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, due to a US veto.  PCHR calls upon the international community and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to meet their obligations under the Convention, through immediately acting to stop the Israeli occupation forces’ violations of the Convention, and to provide immediate protection to Palestinian civilians.     

 

  

“End”

 

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