Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Have
Continued Their War on the Gaza for the 3rd Consecutive Week under
International Silence
IOF Offensive on the Gaza Strip
· 1,042 Palestinians have been killed.
· The victims include 698
civilians and 166 civil police officers.
· The civilian victims include 230 children and 76 women.
· IOF attacked medical and civil defense crews, killing 7
medical personnel.
· IOF attacked UNRWA vehicles, killing a driver.
· 3,901 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 1,101
children and 552 women, have been
wounded.
· 343 houses have been targeted and destroyed and hundreds of houses
and flats have been damaged.
· 20 mosques have been destroyed.
· 46 workshops and industrial facilities have been destroyed.
· 41 security sites and public buildings have been destroyed, including
those of ministries, governorates, municipalities, the Palestinian Legislative
Council, and educational institutions.
· IOF have attacked two media institutions and a medical
center
· A state of compulsory mass displacement of civilians has
prevailed in border areas as a result of continuous air strikes.
· Access to food and medicines is extremely difficult, and
electricity is completely cut off in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.
Daily Violations of Human Rights
· 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were killed by
IOF and settlers in the West Bank.
· 33 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children and a
journalist, were wounded by IOF and settlers in the West Bank.
· IOF conducted 15 incursions into Palestinian communities in
the West Bank.
· IOF arrested 23
Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including 3 children.
· IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT.
· The Gaza Strip is completely isolated from the outside world.
Summary
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have
continued to wage the bloodiest and most brutal war against the Gaza Strip
since its occupation in 1967. IOF have continued to kill Palestinian civilians,
especially children and women. Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip have been
a scene of intense aerial, ground and sea attacks. Investigations conducted by
PCHR indicate that IOF have continued to bombard Palestinian houses and
civilian facilities persistently day and night, while the Palestinian civilian
population suffer a humanitarian crisis as they lack electricity, water and
food supplies. IOF have continued their war on the Gaza Strip with total
disregard for international humanitarian standards and humanitarian law and in
violation of the resolution issued by the United Nations Security Council
yesterday morning calling for a ceasefire. Israel has stressed that it would
continue its offensive and has even threatened to escalate it.
The high number of civilian victims and the extensive
destruction to public and private property are clear evidence that IOF,
instructed by the Israeli political and military establishments, intend to
cause maximum deaths and casualties among Palestinian civilians and maximum
destruction to their property. Additionally, IOF have continued to attack
and obstruct the work of medical, civil defense crews and humanitarian relief
crews.
PCHR believes that this declared war
target Palestinian civilians and their property, and statements of Israeli
political and military officials herald a humanitarian catastrophe and a
persistent war at all levels. The international community is required more than
ever before to immediately act to stop this gravest offensive since the Gaza
Strip was first occupied by IOF. According to what PCHR field workers have been
able to document so far, the number of civilian victims in the first ten
minutes of the offensive on the Gaza Strip is the highest since the beginning
of this offensive. PCHR reiterates its condemnation in the strongest terms for
this bloody war, and calls upon the international community, particularly the
Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time
of War, and international organizations to immediately act to stop such grave
and unprecedented deterioration in the human rights situation and humanitarian
conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli violations of
international law and humanitarian law escalated in the OPT during the reporting
period (8 – 14 January 2009):
IOF Offensive on the Gaza Strip
IOF have continued their offensive on the Gaza Strip. They have
increasingly bombarded civilian facilities, mosques and houses, without paying
attention to the lives and safety of Palestinian civilians. Israel claims that
such civilian facilities, mosques and houses were related to Hamas, but
investigations conducted by PCHR indicate that IOF have used excessive lethal
force and that the majority of the facilities that have been targeted are
public and private property located in densely populated areas, making Palestinian
civilians pay a heavy price from their lives and property. All of the victims
of recent attacks are civilians, and dozens of houses have been heavily
damaged. Due to the current siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction
or reparation of the houses that have been destroyed or damaged is extremely
difficult. IOF warplanes have destroyed most buildings of the Palestinian
government in the Gaza Strip, including those of ministries and security
services. The first wave of air strike was surprising and left many deaths and
casualties.
For the 3rd consecutive
day, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have continued its open offensive on the
Gaza Strip. Using their most powerful destructive arsenal, IOF have continued
to target civilian facilities, mosques, schools and houses, with disregard to
the lives of the Palestinian civilians. According to PCHR’s documentation, IOF
have launched at least 2,300 air and sea strikes against the Gaza Strip. These strikes
have targeted, security and training sites, workshops, public and private
institutions, mosques, educational institutions and many other civilian
facilities.
According to investigations conducted by
PCHR, most of the Palestinian who have been killed during the reporting period
are civilians, many of whom are children. IOF have employed their full-fledged
arsenal to attack Palestinian populated areas. IOF have also attacked and restricted the movement of
medical crews. They have killed 7 medical personnel and wounded dozens of
others while they were evacuating the wounded and the dead.
Thousands of civilians, mainly those who reside in areas close to the
Palestinian- Egyptian border, have fled from their houses in the wake of
several raids launched by IOF on the southern Gaza Strip. A state of compulsory
mass displacement of civilians has prevailed in the area. The United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was forced to open its
schools to shelter the civilians and provide their basic needs, amidst a
climate of fear and bitter cold. In addition, thousands of Palestinian
civilians throughout the Gaza Strip have been forced to flee of their homes and
look for safe shelters because their homes were completely or partially
destroyed by IOF air strikes, amidst the lack of minimum components of human
life.
According to what PCHR field workers have been able to document the IOF
offensive has resulted in the following deaths and casualties:
1,042 Palestinians, including 698 civilians, have been killed throughout
the Gaza Strip. The victims include 230 children and 76 women. Additionally, 3,901
Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 1,101 children and 552 women, have
been wounded. The number of civilian deaths does not include at least 166 civil
police officers who were killed on the first day of the IOF offensive, when
they were not engaged in any hostilities. The victims are distributed as
follows:
Northern Gaza Strip: 353 Palestinians, including 309
civilians, have been killed. The victims include 30 women. Additionally, 1,843
Palestinians, including 576 children and at least 223 women, have been
wounded.
Gaza City: 434 Palestinians, including 251 civilians, have been
killed. The victims include 35 women. Additionally, 850 Palestinians, including
150 children and 80 women, have been wounded.
Central Gaza Strip: 139 Palestinians, including 58 civilians,
have been killed. The victims include 5 women. Additionally, 391 Palestinians,
including 113 children and 77 women, have been wounded.
Khan Yunis: 76 Palestinians, including 55 civilians, have been killed.
The victims include 5 women. Additionally, 390 Palestinians, including 171
children and 95 women, have been wounded.
Rafah: 40 Palestinians, including 25
civilians, have been killed. The victims include a woman. Additionally, 448
Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 91 children and 77 women, have been
wounded.
Other Daily Violations of Human Rights
Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF and
settlers killed 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, and wounded 33
others, including 7 children and a journalist, in the West
Bank.
On 8 January 2009, IOF
shot dead a Palestinian civilians near “Shur Adomim” settlement, east
of Jerusalem. They claimed that the he attempted to set fire to a fuel station
belonging to the settlement.
On 13 January 2009, IOF
shot dead a Palestinian farmers in Ethna village, northwest of Hebron.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, the victim had been subjected to
beating and harassment before he was killed.
On the same day, an
Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian child and wounded two others near
Qalqilya. IOF also arrested the two children.
In the West Bank, IOF
used excessive force against peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to
the IOF offensive on the Gaza Strip. As a result, 12 Palestinian civilians,
including 3 children, were wounded.
During the reporting period, 18
Palestinian civilians, including 4 children and a journalist, were wounded when
IOF used force against peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to the
construction of the Annexation Wall west of Ramallah.
Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF
conducted at least 15 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the
West Bank. IOF arrested 23 Palestinian
civilians, including 3 children.
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 continued to close all border crossings to the Gaza
Strip for more than two years. The IOF siege of Gaza, which has steadily
tightened since June 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and
economic situation in the Gaza Strip.
· 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights,
including freedom of movement, and their rights to appropriate living
conditions, work, health and education.
Under the IOF offensive on the Gaza
Strip, the Gaza civilian population are suffering serious deterioration in the
humanitarian situation. The resulting acute humanitarian crisis is increasingly
and seriously impacting living conditions of Palestinian civilians, which have
been already deteriorating due to the tightened siege imposed by IOF on the
Gaza Strip from the land, air and sea for more than 18 months. Due to this
siege, Palestinian civilians have been denied their economic, social, cultural,
civil and political rights.
The deterioration taking place in
health conditions in the Gaza Strip exacerbated due to the high number of the
dead and the wounded who fell due to IOF raids. This exacerbating deterioration
comes along with the tightened total siege that has been imposed on the Gaza
Strip, including the closure of Gaza border crossings for more than 18 months.
The siege has impacted all medical institutions in the Gaza Strip, including
hospitals and primary healthcare centers that have become unable to meet the
needs of the civilian population and, as a result, have been unable to ensure physical
and mental healthcare. This situation has impacted the capacity of Gaza medical
institutions to provide medical services to the Gaza civilian population. The
state of fear and horror caused by IOF barbarian raids affected the standard of
civilians’ enjoyment of their right to health, including inability to access
medical institutions due the gravity of the security conditions, or due to
medical institutions’ incapacity to respond to the needs of hundreds of wounded
persons and thousands of patients. Medical sources in the MOH in Gaza and at
Shifa Hospital, the main treatment provider in the Gaza strip, stated the
following:
· Gaza hospitals suffer severe shortage in beds that are
required to receive hundreds of victims of IOF raids. There are approximately
1,200 beds in all Gaza hospitals. At Shifa Hospital, there are 530 beds,
including 135 beds used for primary healthcare provision. Medical crews at Gaza
hospitals and clinics have been unable to provide beds to treat and hospitalize
the wounded persons, due to the high numbers of the wounded who arrived at
hospitals and clinics in the wake of IOF air raids. Approximately 319 dead
persons and more than 1,000 wounded persons have been admitted into Gaza
hospitals within the past four days. The wounded who have been admitted into
hospitals are being treated and hospitalized under severe shortages in
medicines and medical supplies. Medical crews are also bearing utmost suffering
due to continued electricity cutoffs.
· The different units at Shifa Hospital and other hospitals in
the Gaza Strip are still suffering incapacity to provide treatment and medical
services to approximately 390 persons who have been wounded in IOF ongoing
military operation, due to unavailability of material capacities and medical apparatuses
that are required for their treatment. These 390 wounded persons need to be
urgently and promptly referred to treatment abroad for their serious injuries.
The MOH has managed to refer approximately 60 of them to Egyptian hospitals
during the past two days.
· The continued air striking has created a state of confusion,
fear and horror amongst medical crews at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The
gravity of the security conditions at the Hospital exacerbated following the
heavy damages that had been caused to the Hospital when IOF warplanes bombarded
al-Burno Mosque that is adjacent to the Hospital. Due to bombardment of the
mosque, the windows and doors of the burns and surgery unit and the
administration offices were crashed. Also the water network at the surgery unit
in building no. 8 was destroyed. This created extreme difficulty that impeded
the work of the medical crews at the Hospital.
· Eng. Bassam al-Hamarin, director of Engineering and
Maintenance Department in the MOH, stated that the continued electric cutoffs
and the shortage of spare parts required for the maintenance of many medical
apparatuses and tools have impacted the efficiency and work of these
apparatuses and tools. He added that this resulted in:
– Disruption and poor efficiency of 17 central oxygen stations
in Gaza hospitals, including 3 stations at Shifa Hospital that provide oxygen
to internal diseases unit, chest diseases unit and the artificial kidney unit.
– The pumps of water wells at Shifa Hospital were disrupted
after sustaining heavy damages.
– The members of the medical crews at Gaza hospitals are
suffering shortages in wireless communication devices. This coincides with
defectiveness in the Palestinian mobile communication network (Jawwal),
increasing the gravity that faced the work of the Palestinian ambulances
crews.
– Many medicines, vaccinations and foods at Gaza hospitals are
subject to decay due to continued electric cutoffs while the power generated by
power generators is not sufficient to face the power shortage.
– Shifa Hospital is suffering the continued disruption of its
only cardiac catheterization apparatus. The Hospital is also suffering the
disruption of the sterilization apparatuses and milk pasteurization and
decontamination apparatuses that are necessary for immature neonates.
– All hospitals in the Gaza strip are suffering shortages in
spare parts required for power generators, on which Gaza hospitals mainly
depend in view of continued electric cutoffs. The MOH Engineering and
Maintenance Department lacks many spare parts required for the maintenance of
power generators, including air filters, oil filter and filters required to
separate kerosene and oil.
– The MOH is suffering a shortage of spare parts required for
its vehicles and ambulances. Due to the emergency situation in the Gaza Strip,
50% of the MOH ambulances are exceptionally operating although they lack
maintenance.
· Central medical laboratories at Shifa Hospital are suffering
a severe shortage in medical apparatuses, including 30 apparatuses used in
blood analysis. This shortage of blood analysis apparatuses has impeded the
blood transformation for the wounded. The lives of the wounded persons would be
threatened in case of blood transformation without making the necessary tests.
· Gaza hospitals are suffering a shortage in medical
disposables in surgery rooms, including surgical operation torches, surgical
operations tables, laboratorial apparatuses, ray apparatuses and extensive care
apparatuses.
· Gaza hospitals and healthcare centers are still suffering a
shortage in medicines. 105 items of main medical tools and 255 of medical
disposables have run out or are in short quantities. These medical supplies
include the majority of medicines required for cancer patients and medicines
required for sick children who are suffering from cystic fibrosis, and the
health conditions of these children are seriously threatened .
· More than half a million of Palestinian students at primary,
preparatory and secondary schools have been denied access to their schools. On
the first day of IOF indiscriminate air raids, more than 5,000 students were
subject to trauma or were injured, while attending their classes or while on
their way to afternoon schools. These children are still denied access to
necessary physical treatment services, due to the severe shortage in that
service.
· Dr. Samir Qouta, a psychology professor at the Islamic
University in Gaza City, says that there has been an increasing number of
parents who visit mental health centers in the Gaza Strip to inquire how to
treat the symptoms of the psychological deterioration in their children, that
resulted from the terrible explosions that trembled the entire Gaza Strip. Dr.
Qouta says that the symptoms of the psychological disorders caused by fear and
horror of IOF incessant bombardments include bedwetting, nail-biting, fear of
night, frightening nightmares, physical pains of unknown causes, crying and
introversion. Dr. Qouta expects that the symptoms of the psychological
deterioration in the Palestinian children would develop to include a form of
violence in dealing with their peers, inability to concentrate and
deterioration of educational levels. He also indicated that Palestinian
children, who are subject to traumatic experience caused by IOF bombardments,
become less obedient to their parents and lose the ability to deal openly with them. Dr. Qouta
expects that the psychological deterioration in the Palestinian children in the
Gaza Strip would aggravate due to IOF ongoing raids.
West Bank
IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the
movement of Palestinian civilians throughout the West Bank, including occupied
East Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip continue to be denied access to Jerusalem.
· IOF have established checkpoints in and around Jerusalem,
severely restricting Palestinian access to the city. Civilians are frequently
prevented from praying at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
· There are approximately permanent 630 roadblocks, manned and
unmanned checkpoints across the West Bank. In addition, there are some 60-80
‘flying’ or temporary checkpoints erected across the West Bank by IOF every
week.
· When complete, the illegal Annexation Wall will stretch for
724 kilometers around the West Bank, further isolating the entire population.
350 kilometers of the Wall has already been constructed. Approximately 99% of
the Wall has been constructed inside the West Bank itself, further confiscating
Palestinian land.
· At least 65% of the main roads that leads to 18 Palestinian
communities in the West Bank are closed or fully controlled by IOF (47 out of
72 roads).
· There are around 500 kilometers of restricted roads across
the West Bank. In addition, approximately one third of the West Bank, including
occupied East Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without a permit
issued by the IOF. These permits are extremely difficult to obtain.
· IOF continue to harass, and assault demonstrators who hold
peaceful protests against the construction of the Annexation Wall.
· Palestinian civilians continue to be harassed by IOF in
Jerusalem, and across the West Bank, including being regularly stopped and
searched in the streets by IOF.
· During the reporting period, IOF arrested 6 Palestinian
civilians, including 2 women, at various checkpoints in the West Bank.
Israeli Violations Documented during the Reporting Period (8 – 14 January
2009):
The full report is available PDF
format.
