The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) are continuing to implement a policy of collective punishment and extra-judicial killing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
The most recent attempt of assassination on Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, the founder and leader of Hamas Movement, reflects a clear escalation of the Israeli assassination policy.
According to the results of Al Mezan’s field investigation, the IOF bombarded an apartment in a residential building in the Ad-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City at approximately 4 pm yesterday, September 6, 2003.
Moments prior to the bombardment, Sheikh Ahmad Yasin and Ismail Hanyeh, both senior Hamas leaders, had left the apartment and were therefore saved from the attack.
However, 14 persons were injured, 6 of whom are children.
Numerous homes in the neighborhood of the attached apartment were also damaged.
The Israeli Government confirmed the assassination attempt and announced its intention to continue such extra-judicial killings against what it calls ‘wanted persons’.
It is also worth mentioning that the IOF continues to impose strict restrictions on movement and to demolish homes, which constitutes part of the collective punishment measures imposed on the OPT.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights gravely condemns Israel’s continued crimes against Palestinians in the OPT, particularly the frequent extra-legal killings.
These acts constitute severe violations of the international law, which guarantees the right of every person to life.
The Center highlights the fact that Israel’s arbitrary air attacks are grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War, of August 12, 1949.
The perpetrators of these crimes should be pursued and brought to justice.
The Center appeals for the international community, especially the High Contractor Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to fulfill its obligations by putting an end to Israel’s grave breaches of the International Law and the International Humanitarian Law.
Now more than ever, international intervention is requested to protect civilians in the OPT.
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