IOF Perpetrate a Massacre in Gaza

For the third day, the Israeli Occupation Forces escalated their aggression against the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Yesterday, Saturday 25, January 2003, IOF murdered 12 Palestinians in a new incursion into Gaza City.
At around 10:20 pm, Israeli tanks entered Az-Zaytun area, south of Gaza City, under helicopters cover.
They entered the area from the settlement of Nitzarim and Al Muntar/Carni Crossing and remained there for more than six hours.
Twelve people were killed in the attack and about 40 were wounded; six of them are in critical conditions.
In addition, IOF destroyed two homes completely while tens of other homes were damaged.
They also destroyed 29 metal shops; 17 of them were completely destroyed, four commercial stores and tens of small shops in the public market near Ash-Shejaaya.
Moreover, tens of private motor vehicles and three buses were destroyed.
The attack caused much damage to the roads and electricity and phone lines in the area.
Worse than that, Israeli soldiers forces people to evacuate their homes and detained men until the end of the attack.
Also, the fence of Safad School and the windows’ panes of Khalil Al Rahman Mosque were destroyed.
Meanwhile, IOF continued their aggression in the town of Biet Hanun.
After destroying the roads that lead to the town two days ago, they closed the Salah Ad-Din Street with sand and barbed wires, isolating the town from the rest of the Gaza Strip.
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 above incursions are grave breaches of Articles 33, 53 and 147 of the 4th Geneva Convention, which also prohibit all kinds of collective punishment procedures.
The Center believes that this escalation coincides with the Israeli elections, due on January 28.
Al Mezan fears that Israel would take the advantage of the international community’s focus on the Iraqi cause to perpetrate more crimes against Palestinian civilians in the OPTs.
Such crimes, which target lives and property, cause more grief to Palestinian civilians who suffer difficult living conditions.
As such, the Center calls upon the international community to urgently intervene and put an end to the continued Israeli violations of Palestinians human rights.
Al Mezan calls the High Contracting Parties to the 4th Geneva Convention to reconvene their conference on the OPTs and consider Israel’s violations of the Convention.
It is the international community’s obligation to bring those who are responsible for ordering or perpetrating these crimes to justice.
END