In the most recent incursion into the refugee camps of Al Bureij and An Nuseirat, in the middle of the Strip on 7 March 2004, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed 14 Palestinians, including 4 children, According to Al Mezan's fieldwork investigations, 23 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles entered the two camps at around 3 am.
Helicopter gun-ships protected the ground forces as IOF took control of the Al Da'wa Street, northern An Nuseirat camp, where they entered and took control of three high apartment buildings.
Helicopters and snipers, who were stationed on the buildings, opened fire on the area and killed 14 people: — Muhammad Ali Badawi, aged 15 — Muhammad Amir Abu Izreeq, aged 12 — Mahmoud Abdulla Younis, aged 8 — Haitham Muhammad Al Isawi, aged 16 — Ahmad Hasan Harb, aged 28 — Shadi Abid As-S'idni, aged 21 — Yousif Mahmud As-Sinwar, aged 26 — Faris Fathi Al hawajri, aged 28 — Muhammad Ismail Al Shatali, aged 22 — Hasan Ahmad Zuhd, aged 42 — Umar Al Jamal, aged 20 — Musa Himmu, aged 25 — Khalid Qasim Al Hazuqi, aged 25 — Hazim Rawhi Aqil, aged 20 86 persons were also injured in the incursion, 33 of whom are children.
Two of the injured sustained critical wounds.
During this incursion, the IOF also destroyed numerous fences around farmland and a bus owned by Hasan Awwad Al Aruqi before withdrawing to the nearby settlement of Nitzarim at around 8:15 am.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns Israel's continued aggression against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and is gravely concerned by the excessive use of forces against them.
IOF's actions constitute grave breaches of the international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War.
These acts have frequently caused severe loss of civilian life and property.
As such, the Center calls upon the International Community to immediately intervene and condemn the Israeli Government for its crimes and human right violations in the OPT.
The International Community holds a legal and moral responsibility to protect Palestinian civilians.
Al Mezan calls for: • Effective international intervention to end the illegal Israeli occupation of the OPT.
• Effective international protection for civilians and their property in the OPT.
• Respect for the international humanitarian law in the OPT.
• Israelis who perpetrated and ordered these crimes to be brought to justice.