Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Escalate
Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory (OPT), and Isolate the Gaza Strip from the Outside World
· 9
Palestinians were killed by IOF.
· 6
of the victim were killed by the IOF shelling in the Gaza Strip.
· Two of the victims were extra-judicially
executed by IOF in the West Bank.
· 91
Palestinians, including 18 children, were wounded by the IOF gunfire.
· IOF
warplanes launched a series of air strikes and mock air raids on the Gaza
Strip; offices of the Palestinian Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior
and a number of civilian facilities were destroyed or damaged.
· IOF
conducted 81 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and
reoccupied areas in the Gaza Strip.
· 102
Palestinian civilians, including 7 ministers, 24 members of the Palestinian
Legislative Council, 6 children and two girls, were arrested by IOF.
· 5
houses and hundreds of donums[1]
of agricultural land were destroyed by IOF in the Gaza Strip.
· 6
houses in the northern Gaza Strip were transformed by IOF into military sites.
· 35
charitable societies in the West Bank were raided and a number of them were
closed by IOF.
· The
electricity network in Rafah was destroyed, and the town has been living in
darkness.
· IOF
have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT; IOF have imposed a tightened
siege on the Gaza Strip; dozens of patients are stuck at Rafah International
Crossing Point on the Egyptian border; and IOF positioned at various checkpoints
in the West Bank arrested 3 Palestinian civilians.
· IOF
have continued to construct the Annexation Wall in the West Bank; IOF started
to establish a fence around “Kermi Tsur” settlement, north of Hebron; and IOF
confiscated at least 25 donums of agricultural land in Beit Oula village, west
of Hebron.
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. 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 Agency, to immediately intervene to force IOF to stop this
offensive and allow the passage of foodstuffs, medical supplies and fuels into
the Gaza Strip. PCHR warns the
international community of the policies of collective punishment and reprisals
practiced by IOF against the Palestinian civilian population, especially the
destruction of electricity sources and the denial of passage of foodstuffs and
fuels into the Gaza Strip, which will lead to a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza
Strip.
PCHR believe
that the international conspiracy of silence and US official statements that
Israel has the right to take all measures that could ensure the release of a
captured Israeli soldier, constitute a green light for IOF to wage a full scale
offensive and impose a tightened siege on the Gaza Strip.
During the
reported period, IOF continued to impose strict siege on the Gaza Strip and
attack civilian facilities, using their highly developed arsenal without paying
any consideration to proportionality in the use of force. IOF also threatened to extra-judicially
execute Palestinian political leaders in the Gaza Strip. In the west Bank, IOF arrested 7 Palestinian
ministers and 24 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) representing
Hamas. Thus, the number of ministers
arrested by IOF has increased to 8.
The
outcome of crimes committed by IOF since 25 June 2006:
o 10
Palestinians have been killed by IOF (3 have been extra-judicially executed and
6 have been killed by shelling).
o 79
Palestinian civilians, including 21 children, have been wounded by the IOF
gunfire.
o 82
air-to-surface missiles and hundreds of artillery shells have been fired at
Palestinian civilians and military targets in the Gaza Strip.
o Two
buildings of the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, the office of the
Palestinian Prime Minister and a number of educational institutions have been
destroyed.
o 3
bridges linking Gaza City with the southern Gaza Strip and 3 roads in Khan
Yunis and al-Nusairat have been destroyed.
o Hundreds
of donums of agricultural land and 5 houses have been destroyed, and 6 other
houses have been transformed into military sites.
o The
electricity network of Rafah has been destroyed.
o At
least 180 Palestinian civilians, including 8 ministers and more than 20 PLC
members have been arrested in the West Bank, and 4 Palestinian civilians have
been arrested in the Gaza Strip.
o Gaza
International Airport in the southern Gaza Strip and parts of the northern Gaza
Strip have been occupied by IOF.
Israeli
violations of international law continued in the OPT during the reported period
(29 June – 5 July 2006):
Killing: During
the reported period, IOF killed 9 Palestinians (6 in the Gaza Strip and 3 in the West Bank). In the Gaza Strip, 4 Palestinians were
killed by IOF air strikes and the remaining two were killed when IOF gunboats
shelled a site of the Palestinian Naval Force in the northern Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, IOF killed one Palestinian
when they attacked a number of members of the Palestinian resistance in a
cemetery in Nablus. They also extra-judicially
executed two Palestinian in two separate attacks in Jenin and Jericho.
In addition, 71 Palestinians, including 18 children,
were wounded by the IOF gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In the Gaza Strip, IOF launched a series of air strikes
on civilian targets and mock air raids using fighter jets and helicopter
gunships. During the reported period, they attacked the office of the
Palestinian Prime Minister Isma’il Haniya, the office of the Minister of
Interior Sa’id Siam and the building of the Ministry of Interior. During the
reported period, IOF fired at least 86 air-to-surface missiles and hundreds of
artillery shells at dozens of civilian targets, including educational
institutions and electricity facilities in the Gaza Strip.
Incursions:
During the reported period. IOF conducted at least 81 military incursions
into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During these incursions, IOF raided houses and arrested 7 ministers, 24
PLC members and 71 other civilians, including 6 children and two women. Thus, the number of Palestinians arrested by
IOF since the beginning of 2006 has increased to 1940. IOF also raided at least
35 civil institutions and closed a number of them. During the reported period,
IOF invaded and reoccupied areas in the northern Gaza Strip, while they have
continued to occupy Gaza International Airport in the southern Gaza Strip. In addition, IOF conducted a number of
limited incursions into Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip, during which they
arrested two Palestinians, demolished 5 houses, transformed 6 other houses into
military sites and used 6 Palestinian civilians as human shields. IOF also
razed large areas of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip. The southern Gaza
Strip town of Rafah lack electricity supplies as the electricity network of the
town was destroyed, an IOF have denied access of maintenance crews to areas
occupied by IOF to repair the network. In
these incursions, IOF employed undercover units and trained dogs.
Restrictions on
Movement: IOF have continued to
impose a comprehensive siege on the OPT, in violation of civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights of Palestinian civilians.
Following an attack launched by Palestinian militants
on 25 June 2006 near the Israeli-Egyptian border, southeast of Rafah, which
left two IOF soldiers and two of the attackers dead and a third IOF soldier
missing, IOF have closed all border crossings of the Gaza Strip.
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. According to information gathered by PCHR,
the number of Palestinians stuck in Egypt is more than 3,000. Most of
them have been forced to stay in different cities including Cairo, al-Arish and
Egyptian Rafah. These Palestinians had traveled to Egypt or through Egypt
to other destinations for the purposes of medical treatment, education,
visiting relatives or work. In addition, scores of expatriate Palestinian
families living in the Gulf States, who had traveled to Rafah International Crossing
Point to spend the summer in Gaza, were forced to return to the Gulf. Furthermore, more than 400 Palestinians,
mostly patients, are stuck in the waiting hall at the Egyptian side of Rafah
Crossing. They are enduring extremely difficult conditions due to the hot
weather and lack of adequate services and facilities, especially for
patients. These patients were returning to Gaza after undergoing medical
treatment abroad, including surgery. Some of the patients have undergone
heart, ophthalmic or orthopedic surgeries. Such patients require special
facilities that are not available at the border. Travelers are deprived of
services required to meet their basic needs, especially for women, children and
the elderly. Furthermore, they are being forcibly separated from their
families in the Gaza Strip. During the reported period, IOF refused to
allow the transfer of the body of a Palestinian patient who died at an Egyptian
hospital into the Gaza Strip. His family was forced to bury him in Egypt.
IOF have closed
commercial crossings of the Gaza Strip. As a consequence, the economic situation inside the Gaza Strip has
further deteriorated and many goods have been lacked in markets. IOF have prevented the free flow of fuel, food and
medical supplies since. The Gaza Strip was suffering from a lack gas and
fuel even before the latest tightening of the closure. On Sunday, 2 July
2006, IOF reopened the crossing for 5 hours to allow the importation of some basic
foodstuffs and limited amounts of fuel, which do not meet the actual needs of
the Gaza Strip. IOF re-closed the
crossing contrary to their claims that the crossing would be open for 4 days. According to Palestinian official sources,
these amounts meet the needs of the Gaza Strip for a few days only.
IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on
Palestinian communities in 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 the
north and south of the West Bank. For
this purpose, they have imposed severe restrictions one movement through
Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, and re-established their presence at
‘Attara checkpoint, north of Ramallah. They have also erected two new
checkpoints near Ramallah. During the reported period, IOF positioned at
various checkpoints around Nablus imposed severe restrictions on the movement
of Palestinian civilians. They have also continued to impose severe
restrictions on the movement on Palestinian civilians to and from Tulkarm.
IOF positioned at various checkpoints in the West Bank abused a number of
Palestinian civilians. During the reported period, IOF at checkpoints in
the West Bank arrested 3 Palestinian civilians.
Annexation Wall: IOF have continued to construct the Annexation Wall
inside the West Bank. During the reported period, IOF issued a military
order seizing at least 25 donums of land in the Beit Oula village, west of
Hebron. They also razed areas of land to
establish a fence near “Kermi Tsur” settlement, north of Hebron. During the reported period, IOF used forced
to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to the construction of
the Wall in Bal’ein village, west of Ramallah, and Halhoul and Beit Ummar
villages, north of Hebron. IOF fired rubber-coated metal bullets, tear
gas canisters and sound bombs at the demonstrators. As a result, 3
demonstrators were wounded.
Israeli Violations Documented during the Reporting Period (29 June – 5
July 2006)
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