NEWS FROM GAZA

10 Citizens Killed, Scores Wounded in Continued Israeli Massacre on GS

At least ten citizens were killed and tens others wounded on Wednesday in the continued Israeli massacre against the Palestinian people in t the Gaza Strip (GS).

Security sources said that seven citizens were killed, including a child and more than 35 others wounded, including three of the same family, when Israeli artillery bombarded citizens' houses in Shaja'yeh neighbourhood and around Carni crossing, east of Gaza City.

In the meantime an Israeli drone launched at least a missile on a group of citizens in Sha'f neighbourhood east of Gaza City, killing a citizen and wounding others.

At pre-dawn, two citizens were also killed as an Israeli drone fired one missile on their car traveling along Saladin Road, in central Gaza.

Medics at al-Shifa hospital reported that eleven citizens of the wounded were in serious conditions while the bodies of the victims were scattered into parts and completely burned.

At pre-dawn, Israeli warplanes launched more than eight air raids on east and north Gaza Strip.


President Abbas Condemns Ongoing Israeli Massacres against Palestinian People

President Mahmoud Abbas strongly condemned on Wednesday the ongoing Israeli massacres against the Palestinian people, calling for immediate halt to such acts.
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Today, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed 10 citizens and injured dozens others in Gaza Strip (GS).
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The President called for an immediate halt of the Israeli massacres, saying that the Israeli acts come in time of intensive international and regional efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the current crisis.
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He said that Israeli targeting of Palestinian citizens and infrastructure would not solve the problem, but it would complicate the situation and would lead the region towards more tension and instability.
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OATUU Calls for Ending Bombardments against Palestine, Lebanon

The Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) is strongly demanding that Israel puts an end to aerial bombardments against the friendly people of Lebanon and Palestine.

In a press release issued Tuesday, OATUU has thus launched an urgent appeal to the United Nations and the international community to compel Israel to put an end to its aggression.

"OATUU is at the moment dumbfounded by the actions of Israel on the innocent Palestinian and Lebanese populations and on the civil infrastructures of the two countries," OATUU said.

According to a press release issued in Accra and signed by the Secretary General of OATUU, Hassan Sumonu, the organisation added that "it could not accept the fallacious argument that people justifiably resisting illegal occupation of their land were terrorists."

The Secretary-General made it clear that the firm conviction in OATUU was that the Palestinian State would come into existence, and it would be a viable State with internationally recognised frontiers with Jerusalem as capital.

He stated that OATUU would not stop repeating that the Palestinians problem was the epicenter of the conflict in the Middle East and the only condition that could bring a just, comprehensive and durable peace to the area was the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories and from South Lebanon and the Golan Heights of Syria.

Sumonu averred that OATUU would continue to ask to know or find the whereabouts of the uncountable international Organisations concerned with Human Rights that exist throughout the world.

He asked further why the international community remains so quiet in the face of the present martyrdom through the massacre and genocide being perpetrated against the people of Palestine, whose only aspiration was the recognition of their legitimate and inalienable rights to peace and national sovereignty.

Death Toll climbs to 13 in Gaza
The death toll climbed on Wednesday to 13 as Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continues its military aggression against the Palestinian people in different areas of the Gaza Strip.

Sources at the Ministry of Health said that Israeli air raids and artillery shelling caused the death of two other citizens and raised the toll death to 13.

Worth mentioning, IOF has escalated its bombardments to target civil buildings and governmental institutions.

Israeli Artillery Kills 2 Children in Gaza, the Death Toll Climbs to 22
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed Wednesday two children in the refugee camp of Jabalia, north of Gaza, medical sources and witnesses said.

Hospital sources, in Gaza, told WAFA that Shahid, 18-month-old, and his sister, Samar 9, were killed and two other citizens wounded during the Israeli bombardment of houses north of Gaza.

Witnesses said that Israeli tanks bombarded the house of Samir Okal and killed his two daughters.

"The Israeli tanks hit the house with a shell, we rushed to it to evacuate the victims but we astonished to find the bodies of two little children," said Ahmed Omary.

Medical sources revealed that the death toll of the citizens killed during Israeli attacks climbed to 22, while more than 85 were wounded, some critically.

Earlier, on Wednesday, 20 citizens were killed, including children, as Israeli tanks and jets carried out several attacks on Gaza.

The two-year-old girl, Suad Habib and Mohammed Bahtini 16, were among the victims killed during the Israeli attacks.


Legal Investigation Reveals IOF Involvement in the Murder of 3 Family Members in Gaza

According to a legal investigation the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded that Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) murdered 3 members of Hajjaj family by targeting their house on July 8, 2006.

In a press release issued Wednesday, PCHR said that its preliminary investigation, conducted by Legal Unit, pointed that the Hajjaj family house, located on the western part of the East Road, at the end of Mansour Street in Shejaeya Quarter, was targeted by 3 rockets from Israeli drones in the evening of July 8, 2006.

The rockets hit the western end of the house backyard, where the family members were located. They were hit directly. Three family members were killed:
- Ammouna Yousef Hajjaj (42),
- Mohammad Farid Hajjaj (her 23-year old son),
- Rawan Farid Hajjaj (her 6-year old daughter), and
- Four other family members were injured.

The PCHR's investigation into that incident included field visits to the attack site, eyewitness accounts, examining shrapnel and rocket remains in the house, and examining official documents such as medical reports and pictures of the dead and wounded.

The house sustained damages as well. The investigation refutes the Israeli claim after the attack that rejected the possibility of the house being targeted by IOF.

The Israeli army denied targeting the house or firing the rockets that killed the mother and her two children, and injured the rest of the family excluding the father and a son, who were outside at the time of the bombardment.

The IOF spokesman declared at the time that an IOF plane targeted an armed Palestinian with one rocket in the vicinity of the Hajjaj family house.

In light of the investigation results, PCHR submitted an official complaint to the Israeli Military Attorney requesting a serious investigation into the incident, to submit the perpetrators to justice, and compensate the victims of this incident that is classified as a war crime.

PCHR stressed that the Hajjaj family members fell victim to Israeli measures that clearly do not differentiate between civilians and others. IOF does not hesitate to target civilian property for the sake of inflicting additional casualties among Palestinians in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention.


British MP's Call for Immediate Cease Fire in the Middle East
Fifty six British Parliamentarians called Wednesday for an immediate cessation of fire in the Middle East.

The Parliamentarians said that the Israelis are not protected by military might which targets homes, bridges and roads in Lebanon, cuts electricity and water supplies to the majority of homes in Gaza, including refugee camps, and which has done more damage to Lebanon.

"Such actions are unacceptable, immoral and illegal," the MP's said in the statement.

They asserted that the UK Government has a particular responsibility to uphold and ensure universal respect for international humanitarian law.

The Parliamentarians called for taking "handed steps to secure the implementation all UN Security Council Resolutions concerning the Middle East, including the realisation of a viable Palestinian state alongside an Israel secure in its lawful borders."


Death Toll in Gaza Climbs to 25, Elderly Dies in WB
Ministry of Health (MOH) reported that the death toll of the citizens killed Wednesday in Gaza by Israeli troops, climbed to 25.

MOH added that three more citizens died of wounds they sustained today after being wounded during the Israeli bombardment.

It added that at least 70 citizens, including children and women, were wounded during the Israeli attacks.

MOH mentioned that an old man died in the West Bank when Israeli soldiers, stationed at a checkpoint in Qalqilia, prevented him from reaching medical centre.