Israeli Special Unit Kills Citizen in Rafah
An Israeli special unit killed Thursday morning a citizen, in the southern Gaza Strip City of Rafah.
Medical sources said that Iyad Abu Mour 23, was standing near his house, close to Sofa Crossing, north of Rafah, when the Israeli special unit shot him in the head. He was instantly killed and transferred to European Gaza Hospital.
Israeli Police Bans Peace Cycle Delegation from Traveling to Hebron
Israeli police banned a European delegation of Peace Cycle from traveling on Hebron-Jerusalem road to arrive Hebron city.
The tourist guide, Nemer E'wina told WAFA that Israeli occupation aimed to disturb the delegation's aim of peace and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
He pointed out that the delegation included 24 cyclists of different nationalities to draw international attention to the Palestinian struggle and to recruit European public attention to support the Palestinian people.
Peace Cycle says, in it's a statement on its web, that the goal of its mission is :
- To encourage people from all over the world to take part in a peaceful demonstration to bring an end to the cycle of violence and begin a cycle of peace in the Middle East.
"To raise public awareness of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and how it affects the lives of the people in the region, and to call for an end to this occupation as stipulated in United Nations Resolution 242.
- To show solidarity with those who continue to live in fear and turmoil as a result of the occupation and in particular, to call for justice for the Palestinian people as being the only way to a lasting peace for all people in Israel and Palestine.
Human Rights Watch Calls on Israeli Troops not to Fire on Gaza Medics
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Israel troops to scrupulously respect the protected status of medical emergency personnel and facilities at all times as it conducts "military operations" in the Gaza Strip.
In a press release issued Wednesday HRW said that Israeli forces launched attacks that harmed Palestinian medical emergency personnel and damaged ambulances on at least six different occasions in the Gaza Strip between May 30 and July 20.
"Attacks against clearly identified medical providers are an extremely serious matter," Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East division of HRW, said.
He asserted that Israel should conduct an impartial and transparent investigation of these incidents to determine why medical personnel were endangered. Stork asserted that Israel should remind its forces that attacks against medical and religious personnel and objects displaying the emblems of the Geneva Conventions are prohibited.
"It is unacceptable that paramedics and ambulance drivers, whose humanitarian task is to recover causalities and assist the injured, should themselves need to be hospitalized for carrying out their jobs," Stork said, "all parties to a conflict must respect medical personnel, and in these cases where the shelling and gunfire apparently came from Israeli sources, a prompt and credible investigation and sanctions, where appropriate, must follow."
In its release HRW shed the light on several incidents occurred where Israeli troops hit Palestinian paramedic and ambulances.
It revealed that HRW researchers in the Gaza Strip spoke individually with six paramedics, one ambulance driver, and one volunteer with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
The drivers came from various parts of the Gaza Strip and recounted six separate incidents in which they came under fire while responding to emergency calls.
Dr. Mu'awiya Hassanain, the head of Ambulance and Emergency Management under the Ministry of Health, told HRW that there had been 23 instances of medical emergency teams coming under fire in Gaza in July 2006, although HRW investigated only the six incidents described here.
Ambulance drivers showed HRW their working clothes, which, for the PRCS, consist of white vests with a large crescent covering the back and the words "Palestinian Red Crescent Society" in English and Arabic. A smaller emblem is on the front. The clothes have fluorescent stripes which reflect brightly at night. PRCS paramedics carry bright flashlights at night and work in pairs, increasing their visibility.
According to HRW release, The PRCS and the Ministry of Health's Ambulance and Emergency Management Department have extensive experience operating in zones where military operations are being conducted.
