August 24, 2006
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

 

 

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Escalate
Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory (OPT)

 

 

· 8
Palestinians were killed by IOF.

 

· A
woman from Rafah died from a previous wound she has sustained when IOF attacked
her and her two children, who were killed in the attack.

 

· Two
of the victims were extra-judicially executed by IOF.

 

· 26
Palestinian civilians, including 8 children and a woman, were wounded by the
IOF gunfire.

 

· IOF
launched a series of air strikes on a number of houses in the Gaza Strip.

 

· Two
houses were destroyed in Rafah and Jabalya.

 

· IOF
conducted 44 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and two
others into the Gaza Strip.

 

· IOF
arrested 64 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including 5 children and 4
women.

 

· IOF
arrested the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of the Palestinian
Legislative Council.

 

· IOF
raided offices of 3 charitable societies in Hebron.

 

· IOF
razed at least 30 donums[1]
of agricultural land and arrested 5 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

 

· IOF
have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT; IOF have imposed a tightened
siege on the Gaza Strip and there have been shortages of foodstuffs and fuels; and
IOF positioned at a various checkpoints in the West Bank arrested 9 Palestinian
civilians, including two children.

 

· IOF
have continued to construct the Annexation Wall in the West Bank; they
confiscated more areas of land in Tulkarm; they resumed the construction of a
section of the Wall near “Shavi Shomron” settlement in the northern West Bank;
and they used force to disperse a peaceful demonstration protesting the
construction of the Wall in Bal’ein village, west of Ramallah.

 

 



Summary

 

As the international community has remained silent,
IOF have continued to wage a full scale offensive on the Palestinian people,
especially in the Gaza Strip.  During the reported period, IOF have
continued their attacks on Palestinian civilians and property.

 

PCHR, monitoring with utmost concern the developments
of this offensive, calls upon the international community, particularly the
High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and United Nations,
to immediately intervene to force IOF to stop this offensive and lift the siege
imposed on the Gaza Strip. 

 

The
outcome of crimes committed by IOF since 25 June 2006:

 

o 216
Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 45 children and 11 women, have been
killed by IOF.

o At
least 842 Palestinian civilians, including 240 children and 28 women, have been
wounded by the IOF gunfire.

o At
least 221 air-to-surface missiles and hundreds of artillery shells have been
fired at Palestinian civilian and military targets in the Gaza Strip.

o Buildings
of the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
the Ministry of National economy, the office of the Palestinian Prime Minister
and a number of educational institutions have been destroyed. 

o The
electricity generation plant, providing 45% of the electricity of the Gaza
Strip, was destroyed, and electricity networks and transmitters have been
repeatedly attacked.

o 6
bridges linking Gaza City with the central Gaza Strip and a number of roads
have been destroyed. 

o Hundreds
of donums of agricultural land and dozens of houses have been destroyed. 

o Hundreds
of Palestinian civilians, including 9 ministers and 30 members of the
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), including the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and
Secretary, have been arrested. Minster of Prisoners’ Affairs, Minister of Labor
and Second Deputy Speaker of the PLC were released.

o The
Palestinian governmental compound in Nablus has been destroyed.

o Many
families in Rafah, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia have been forced to leave their
houses.

o IOF
intelligence has warned some Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip by phone
to evacuate their houses, which would be attacked.

o 27
houses belonging to activists of Palestinian factions were destroyed by IOF
warplanes.

o IOF
have imposed a strict siege on the OPT, and have isolated the Gaza Strip from
the outside world.

 

Israeli
violations of international law continued in the OPT during the reported period
(17 – 23 August 2006):

 

Killing: During
the reported period, IOF killed two Palestinian civilians and 3 members of the
al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad. On 17 August 2006,
IOF shot dead a deaf Palestinian civilian near the border between the Gaza
Strip and Israel, east of the al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip,
when he was cutting grass. On 18 August 2006, IOF shot dead a Palestinian civilian
in Beit Lahia, when he was grazing animals near the border between the Gaza
Strip and Israel. In the two crimes, IOF did not warn the victims. On 22 August
2006, IOF killed 3 members of the al-Quds Brigades, when they were in al-Qarara
village, nearly 500
meters away from the border. The victims apparently bled
to death. They were not armed. On 20 August 2006, a woman from Rfah
died from a wound she had sustained on 5 August 2006, when an IOF drones fired
a missile at her and her children. Two of her children were also killed in the
attack. In addition, 11 Palestinian civilians, including a woman and two
children, were wounded by the IOF gunfire.

 

Thus, the number of Palestinians killed by IOF in the
Gaza Strip since the beginning of “Operation Summer Rains” on 25 June 2006 has
increased to 193, including 43 children and 11 women. In addition, 726 others,
mostly civilians, including 196 children, 27 women, 4 paramedics and 4
journalists, have been wounded. 

 

IOF also launched at least two
air strikes on two houses in the Gaza Strip belonging to Palestinian resistance
activists. These houses were destroyed,
and a number of neighboring houses and civilian facilities were severely
damaged. IOF intelligence officers
ordered owners of these houses by phone to evacuate their houses. 

 

During the reported, IOF fired dozens of artillery
shells at Palestinian residential areas and agricultural land in the Gaza Strip.
A number of Palestinian civilians were killed or wounded and a number of houses
were damaged.

 

In the West Bank, 3 Palestinian civilians were killed
by IOF. On 18 August 2006, IOF extra-judicially executed two members of the
Islamic Jihad in al-‘Obaidiya village, east of Bethlehem. On 20 August 2006,
IOF killed a Palestinian worker and wounded two others. IOF fired at the taxi,
in which the three victims were traveling, when the driver attempted to bypass
Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus, as IOF prevented Palestinians aged below 30
from crossing the checkpoint.

 

In addition, 15 Palestinian civilians, including 6
children, a journalist and a member of the Islamic Jihad, whom IOF attempted to
extra-judicially executed, were wounded by IOF gunfire. 

 

Incursions:
During the reported period, IOF
conducted at least 44 military incursions into Palestinian communities, during which
they raided dozens of houses and arrested 64 Palestinian civilians, including 5
children, 4 women and an old man.  IOF
also arrested the Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Nasser al-Din al-Sha’er, and the
Secretary of the PLC, Dr. Mahmoud al-Ramahi. In addition, IOF raided 3
charitable societies in Hebron. In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted two incursions
into Gaza and Khan Yunis, during which they wounded 5 Palestinian civilians,
arrested 5 others and razed at least 30 donums of agricultural land.

 

Restrictions
on Movement:
IOF have continued to
impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the
movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,
including Occupied East Jerusalem. 

 

Gaza Strip

 

IOF have
imposed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip. They have closed its border crossings
as a form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians.

 

IOF have
closed Rafah International Crossing Point, even though they do not directly
control it. They have prevented European
observers working at the crossing point form reaching it.
IOF have closed
commercial crossings of the Gaza Strip, especially al-Mentar (Karni) crossing.
As a consequence, the economic situation inside the Gaza Strip has further
deteriorated and many goods have been lacked in markets. IOF have also
continued to close Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. In addition, IOF have prevented Palestinian
fishermen from fishing.

 

West Bank

 

IOF have tightened the siege imposed on Palestinian
communities in the West Bank. They have isolated Jerusalem from the rest
of the West Bank. IOF positioned at various checkpoints in the West Bank have
continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian
civilians.  IOF have continued to separate between the north and south of
the West Bank. During the reported period, IOF positioned at various
checkpoints around imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian
civilians. On Friday, 18 August 2006, IOF prevented Palestinian aged below
45 from going to the al-Aqsa Mosque for the Friday prayer. During the reported
period, IOF positioned at various checkpoints in the West Bank arrested 9
Palestinian civilians, including two children.

 

Annexation Wall: IOF have continued to construct the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank. 
During the reported period, IOF resumed the construction of sections of the
Wall near “Shavi Shomron” settlement, northwest of Nablus. IOF completed the
construction of a section of the Wall to the east of the aforementioned
settlement at the beginning of 2006. “Shavi Shomron” settlement serves as a
military base for IOF, from which they conduct incursion into Palestinian
communities. On 17 August 2006, IOF handed a military order to a number of Palestinian
civilians, confiscating dozens of donums of agricultural land in the west of
Far’oun village, south of Tulkarm. The military order was issued on 21 June
2006, which does not allow Palestinian civilians to appeal against it. In
addition, a journalist was wounded and 7 demonstrators sustained bruises, when
IOF used force against a peaceful demonstration organized in protest to the
construction of the Wall in Bal’ein village, west of Ramallah.

 

 

 



Israeli Violations
Documented during the Reporting Period (17 – 23 August 2006)

 

 

Download the full
report here.



[1] 1 donum is
equal to 1000
square meters.

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