The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attacked the refugee camp of Al Buriej in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
The day before this attack, the IOF had entered the Yebna Block in Rafah.
According to eyewitnesses about 53 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles attacked the Al Buriej refugee camp at around 2:40 am on Thursday 11 September 2003.
Tanks were stationed by the Gaza Valley Bridge while 15 jeeps entered Block (I) of the camp, under helicopters cover.
The IOF broke into two houses.
Nour Abdul Qadir Abu Armaneh was killed in his uncle’s adjacent house and Muhammad Basheer Aqil, aged 25 in an exchange of fire.
Six civilians were also injured in the attack.
The IOF withdrew from the camp at around 6:45 am after they arrested Abu Armaneh’s two uncles, Hatim and Ashraf.
In his affidavit to Al Mezan, Hasan Hamudeh Issa reported that his 3-year-old daughter, Lina, woke up from the sound of helicopters in a state of shock.
She was taken to hospital trembling and died upon arrival at the hospital.
In a separate attack the previous day in Rafah, the IOF entered Yebna Block and fired tank shells.
Muhammad Issa Hamdan, 16 years old, was killed.
In addition, four homes were completely destroyed and 26 others damaged.
According to the investigations, 261 people were previously living in these homes.
It should be mentioned that the attack took place near the borderline between Rafah and Egypt where the IOF are building a metal separation wall.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns these assaults, which constitute war crimes under humanitarian law.
The targeting of civilians and civilian property during the incursions are breaches of Articles 33, 53 and 147 of the 4th Geneva Convention.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns Israel’s continued aggression against Palestinian civilians and their property.
Such incursions into residential areas always resulted in outrageous losses of life and property.
They also constitute part of the collective punishment measures Israel employs in the OPT and dangerous infringements of the Fourth Geneva Convention and human rights standards.
Al Mezan calls upon the international community’s moral and legal responsibility to intervene and stop the Israeli crimes against civilians in the OPT.
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