In a new and serious escalation of collective punishment, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) murdered seven Palestinian children in the town of Beit Lahia, north of The Gaza Strip, today, Tuesday 4 January 2005.
According to hospital sources, the seven children arrived at hospital fragmented into pieces while twelve others were injured.
At approximately 7:40am today, an Israeli tank fired a shell from the settlement of Nisanit towards a group of Palestinians on Hatabiyeh Street in the town of Beit Lahia killing seven children; they are: Hani Kamil Ghaben, aged 16; Bassam Kamil Ghaben, aged 15; Mahmoud Kamil Ghaben, aged 13; who are brothers; Rajih Ghassan Ghaben, aged 10; who is their nephew; Jaber Abdullah Ghaben, aged 15; Muhammad Hasan Ghaben, aged 17; who are their cousins; and Jibril Abdul Fattah Al Kaseeh, aged 17.
Twelve other civilians were wounded in the same attack; nine of whom are children, and four of whom are in a critical condition in hospital.
In his affidavit for Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Ghassan Kamil Ghaben, who is the father of Rajih Ghaben and brother to three of the victims, his son, brothers and a few children were playing in a grove owned by their family, which is located about 300 meters from the settlement, when a tank fired the shell at them.
He said that the tank, which was stationed at the southern gate of the settlement, had a clear view over the area.
He added that the sound of the explosion was very loud and that he arrived at the scene after a few seconds and saw the parts of the children’s bodies scattered all over the area.
"I could not distinguish any of them from the others, everything was a mess," he said.
This crime came 12 hours after the IOF's withdrawal from the nearby town of Beit Hanoun, ending a two-day incursion which left massive destruction of homes, agricultural land and infrastructure.
23-year-old Muhammad Yousef Al Ghandour was also killed, and a journalist, Majdi Al Arabeed, was wounded from IOF fire during that incursion.
In Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, the IOF opened fire arbitrarily from watchtowers along the border on Monday 3 January 2005.
The Center's fieldworker reported that 12-year-old Muhammad Al Satary was injured in the shoulder while he was inside his classroom in UNRWA 'C' School in the refugee camp.
In addition, a 17-year-old girl, Iman Saidam, and 21-year-old Farid Abu Armaneh sustained critical wounds in Rafah refugee camp.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its grave concern about, and condemnation of, this serious escalation by the IOF and their targeting of Palestinian children and civilians.
The Center is also concerned by the continued excessive, disproportionate use of force by the IOF in civilian, densely-populated areas, which poses a dangerous threat to civilian life and property, and constitutes grave breaches of international law; namely of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War (1949).
The Center, as such, calls upon the international community to immediately intervene and provide effective protection for Palestinian civilians, and, in accordance with international law, to pursue and bring to justice the Israeli officials who commit and/or perpetrate such crimes.
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