Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights has been closely following the expansion of the military operations undertaken by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Beit Hanoun since 1 November 2006.
The Centre has condemned the mounting human rights violations and considers that the international community's inaction has encouraged further IOF violations.
So far, the Beit Hanoun incursion has left 41 Palestinians killed (46 have been killed in the whole of the Gaza Strip); seven of whom are children, and about 175 other wounded; including 35 children and 43 women.
60 homes have been destroyed or damaged and 34 others have been seized and used for military operations while the resident families have been detained within them.
As the incursion continues under a tight siege on the town, the humanitarian situation of the town's population has started to worsen because of the shortage of food, power and medical supplies as well as the prohibition of access to healthcare.
Shortage in water supply has significantly increased, too, as the electricity cut-off has continued.
Al Mezan has documented frequent use of missiles fired from the air, artillery and tank shelling of populated areas, as well as unjustified killings of unarmed civilians (including children) by snipers.
In addition to the Shabat case mentioned in the Centre's previous press release (see Press Release 131 at www.
mezan.
org English Page), it has detected three separate cases where snipers shot children yesterday.
These attacks killed one girl, 13-year-old Israa' Nasser, and critically injured two other children in the head.
Moreover, the IOF has continued its house-to-house search after ordering all of the town's male residents, between the ages of 16 and 40, to leave their homes and gather in the Agriculture School in the town for a security and ID check.
At app.
10am Sunday 5 November 2006, the IOF also broke into the town's small hospital and ordered all of its staff and residents to gather in its yard for a check.
Eyewitnesses told Al Mezan that IOF have detained some 2,000 men and subjected them to interrogations that have included torture and several kinds of ill treatment.
Many were arrested and taken to prisons inside Israel.
Al Mezan reiterates its strong condemnation of IOF aggression and its violations of the human rights of residents of Beit Hanoun and other places in OPT.
The Centre has been gravely concerned by the mounting number of casualties in Beit Hanoun, which includes a high percentage of children and women.
Al Mezan is also highly concerned by the worsening humanitarian situation and the denial of access to water and healthcare in the town, a denial which has a rapid impact on the life and wellbeing of the most vulnerable groups; especially women, children and the elderly.
The Centre has also been concerned by the size and type of force IOF used in Beit Hanoun, which is clearly disproportionate and employed in a nondiscriminatory manner.
Al Mezan, once again, condemns the collective punishment imposed by the IOF against civilians in the Gaza Strip and the grave breaches of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
International law obligates Israel, as a belligerent occupying power, to show respect for the dignity, life and wellbeing of civilians and their property in its efforts to secure security for its own citizens.
In particular Israel must uphold its crystal clear obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War of 12 August 1949, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1976, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1976 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1991; to which it is a party.
In the absence of Israel's compliance with these international laws and norms, the Centre calls the international community to intervene and fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities towards the civilians under occupation in OPT and provide protection and assistance for them.
The lack of effective international intervention has only led to increasing violations of human rights and must end.
END