Palestine Center for Human Rights
Ref: 30/2012
Date: 10 March
2012
Time: 09:00 GMT
New Israeli
Escalation against the Gaza Strip:
12 Palestinians,
Including Secretary-General of the Popular Resistance Committees, Killed and 11
Others Wounded
The Palestinian
Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the military escalation initiated by
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) against the Gaza Strip since Friday evening, 09
March 2012, in the context of which 12 Palestinians, including the
Secretary-General of the Popular Resistance Committees, have been killed and 11
others, including 6 civilians, were wounded as a result of a series of air
strikes.
According to
investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 16:15 on Friday, 09 March
2012, and Israeli warplane fired a missile at a blue Opel car that was
traveling in the League of Arab States Street in the southwest of Gaza, in
which two leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees were traveling. The
missile hit the car directly killing the two passengers and seriously wounding
a civilian bystander. The victims were identified as Zuhair Mousa Ahmed
al-Qaissi, 49, from Rafah, Secretary-General of the Popular Resistance
Committees; and Mahmoud Ahmed Hanani, 44, from Nablus, al-Qaissi's son-in-law,
who was released from Israeli prisons and expelled to Gaza in 2006. The
civilian bystander who was wounded was identified as Yahia Zakaria al-Dahshan,
27, and was admitted into the intensive care unit at Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
At approximately
19:20 on the same day, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a number of
activists of al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, who were near
al-Mentar Hill in the east of al-Shuja'iya neighborhood in the east of Gaza
City. Three activists were instantly killed:
1)
Mohammed Khaled Harara, 24;
2)
Fadel 'Obaid al-Gharabli, 25; and
3)
Hazem 'Awadh Quraiqe', 33.
At approximately
22:00 on the same day, an Israeli warplane fired a missile that landed between
two houses in the densely-populated al-Tuffah neighborhood in the east of Gaza
City. As a result, Mo'men Mahmoud al-Sherafi, a journalist, and his wife were
lightly injured by glass fragments, while they were inside their house, which
was heavily damaged. A nearby house was also heavily damaged.
Approximately 15
minutes later, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a garage under a 4-storey
apartment building in al-Yarmouk Street in Gaza City. The place was heavily
damaged and 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded.
At approximately
23:30 also on Friday, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a number of
activists of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad in al-Tuffah
neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. One of those activists, Shadi Riad al-Saiqali,
27, was killed.
At approximately
00:05 on Saturday, 10 March 2012, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a
number of activists of the al-Quds Brigades near the headquarters of the
Palestinian Legislative Council in the center of Gaza City. Two activists were
instantly killed and a third one was seriously wounded, but died of his wound
two hours later at Shifa Hospital. The victims were identified as:
1)
Fa'eq Sameer Sa'ad, 28;
2)
Mo'tassem Diab Hajjaj, 22; and
3)
Ahmed 'Abdul Fattah Hajjaj, 24.
At approximately
00:45 also on Saturday, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at an agricultural
plot belonging to 'Azzam Salama Abu Halima in al-Sayafa area in the northern
Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. As a result, a greenhouse was destroyed and 7
nearby houses were damaged, but no casualties were reported.
At approximately
01:25, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a number of activists of the
al-Quds Brigades who were on a space area in al-Hatabiya Street in the center
of Beit Lahia. An activist sustained bruises throughout the body.
At approximately
01:45, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a number of activists of the
al-Quds Brigades near Hammouda fuel station in the southeast of Beit Lahia.
Two activists were killed: Mohammed Yahia Mohammed al-Mughari, 24; and Mahmoud
Ismail Nejem, 22. A third activist was also seriously wounded.
At approximately
04:10, an Israeli warplane fired two missiles at a red Kia car that was
traveling on Saladin road near the entrance of the central Gaza Strip town of
Deir al-Balah. A number of activists of the al-Quds Brigades were traveling in
the car. The missile hit the car directly. One of the activists, Mohammed
Ibrahim al-Ghamri, 26, from al-Maghazi refugee camp, was killed, and 3 others
were wounded.
PCHR reiterates
condemnation of these crimes and expresses utmost concern over such escalation,
and:
1.
Warns of aggravation of the
humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip under the military escalation by IOF,
accompanied by an ongoing tightened closure that impacts all aspects of life of
the Palestinian civilian population.
2.
Calls upon the international
community to immediately take an action to stop such crimes and reiterates its
call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to
fulfill their obligations under Article 1 which stipulates "the High
Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present
Convention in all circumstances," and their obligations under Article 146
which requires that the Contracting Parties prosecute persons alleged to commit
grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches
constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and under
Protocol I Additional to Geneva Conventions.
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