IOF Continues Its Attacks amidst Threats to Escalate, Three People Killed, Five Injured; Residential Areas and Security Forces Damaged
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued to escalate their aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from the early morning hours of Tuesday 19 June 2012 up to the time this press release was published (in Arabic), at 3:00 pm on Wednesday 20 June 2012. The IOF has attacked residential areas and civilian objects. According to documentation by the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, during this period the IOF carried out seven attacks on the Gaza Strip, as a result of which three people were killed and five injured. Two military training sites were severely damaged, eight houses and a governmental school were partially damaged, and two motorcycles were destroyed.
This raises the total number of casualties to seven killed and 11 injured, including a woman. In total, three military sites have been severely damaged, 19 houses and a school partially damaged, three motorcycles and two cars destroyed, and one fishing boat and fishing net damaged. The IOF also confiscated one fishing boat.
According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, at approximately 12:10 pm on Wednesday 20 June 2012, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles targeting a motorcycle driving in the Msabeh neighborhood of eastern Rafah. As a result, Ghaleb ‘Awwad Irmilat, 21, was killed and another man was injured. Medical sources at Gaza European Hospital described the injured man’s condition as critical.
At approximately 2:20 am on Wednesday 20 June 2012, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a military training site beloning to one of the Palestinian resistance factions east of Ash-Sheikh Zayed City in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district. As a result, a young man present at the site was injured and the site itself was destroyed. Caliph Zayed Primary School and five adjacent houses were partially damaged. Several windowpanes at the school were shattered by the explosions. No casualties or injuries were reported. The school administration had recently renovated the building in preparation for the technology exam administered to high school students there.
At approximately 2:00 am on the same day, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the As-Sekka area east of the Az-Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, wounding one person. Medical sources described his injuries as moderate.
At approximately 1:30 am on the same day, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a military training site belonging to the Al Qassam Brigades near the Al Hashasheen neighborhood northwest of Rafah. The site sustained physical damages as a result. No casualties or injuries were reported.
At approximately 1:30 am on the same day, the IOF fired a missile at the house of Medhat Mubarak Abu Sa’eed, 25, east of Al Bureij refugee camp, about 1,200 meters away from the eastern separation fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The targeted house was totally destroyed, and an adjacent house belonging to Mubarak Hasan Abu Sa’eed, 52, was partially damaged. No casualties or injuries were reported.
At approximately 12:30 am on the same day, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the backyard of the house of Sa’eed Abu Khousa, 41, in the Az-Zaitoun neighborhood of eastern Gaza City. As a result, the house sustained physical damages and two cars were incinerated. One of the cars was specially outfitted for a handicapped person who was injured previously.
At approximately 2:40 pm on Tuesday 19 June 2012, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles targeting a motorcycle travelling on a side road east of Salah Ad-Din street, east of Deir Al Balah, wounding the driver. Medical sources at Al Aqsa Hospital described his injuries, including a chest wound and amputation of his right toes, as critical. The motorcycle was totally destroyed.
At around midnight on Tuesday 19 June 2012, the IOF opened fire with automatic weapons, artillery shells, and flare bombs at three young men east of Al Msaddar village in Middle Gaza district. An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the same group. As a result, two persons were killed and another was injured. Al Mezan has identified those killed as Mohammed Bassam Abu M’iliq, 18, and Yousif Saber At-Telbani, 19. Mohammed Hussni Al ‘Awdat, 18, sustained moderate injuries. According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, the three men, all of whom are from Al Maghazi refugee camp, had intended to sneak across the border. Al ‘Awdat managed to crawl away and escape. At approximately 9:00 am on the same day, the IOF allowed an ambulance from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society to enter the area, after coordination between the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Israeli side. In his affidavit to Al Mezan, one of the ambulance drivers stated that he found the bodies a few meters away from the separation fence. They were dressed in civilian clothes and did not have weapons. Abu M’iliq’s head had been severed.
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns Israel’s almost daily attacks and its escalation of violence against Palestinian civilians and their properties in the border areas, the sea, and what are known as the “Access-Restricted Areas.” Al Mezan warns of the grave impacts of the ongoing Israeli attacks and escalation, particularly given Israeli threats to commit further crimes and abuses against Palestinians in Gaza.
Therefore, Al Mezan calls on the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to intervene to end these Israeli abuses and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the occupied Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip in particular. It also calls on the international community to uphold its obligations to end the Israeli aggression and to bring to justice those who are responsible for gross violations of international humanitarian law.
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