In the early morning hours of Sunday 13 October 2002, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) invaded the town of Rafah in the south the Gaza Strip, in what was described as part of the military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Two Palestinians were reported murdered; one of them was aged only two and a half years.
Tens of homes were destroyed.
According to Al Mezan’s fieldworkers, at approximately 1 a.
m.
Sunday 13 October 2002 about forty Israeli tanks and military vehicles, including four bulldozers, entered Rafah and opened fire on a residential area near the border with Egypt.
The army announced a curfew on the area and started bulldozing and destroying homes with explosives.
Medical sources reported that two people were killed and that one of them was the two-and-a-half year-old Tawfiq Husam Braikeh, who died after his home’s wall fell on him.
Ibrahim Muhammad al-Ghuti, aged 26 was also killed from Israeli fire, and about 26 people were wounded.
Initial results of the fieldwork carried out by Al Mezan indicate that the majority of the injuries took place while the wounded were inside their homes.
In addition, (IOF) severely damaged 45 homes in the area, ten of which were completely destroyed.
Eyewitnesses said that three houses were destroyed with explosives.
Moreover, the army bulldozed ten dunams[1] of agricultural land and destroyed a motor vehicle.
Ten persons from the same area were arrested.
Al Mezan strongly condemns these crimes, which are fresh evidence that the Israeli forces are killing Palestinians and destroying their property for no justifiable reason.
The Israeli claims that the occupation forces target only ‘wanted persons’ is again proved false.
A large body of evidence collected by Al Mezan fieldworkers clearly shows that the occupying forces target civilian lives and property.
Official Israeli statements claiming that their forces have made a ‘mistake’, similar to those following the Ad-Daraj and Khan Yunis bombardments, are made repeatedly.
In view of the horrendous scale of Israeli crimes, which constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as of other human rights norms, Al Mezan asks the international community to fulfill its obligations as a matter of great urgency.
The silence of the international community in the face of such violations of international law encourages Israel and puts in question the integrity of the community.
The Center calls upon the international community, and especially the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to intervene and protect the civilian population of the Palestinian occupied territories.
[1] One dunam equals 1,000 square meters.
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