The Israeli occupying forces escalated their aggressive activities against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories to include parts of the Gaza Strip, while still occupying Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank, perpetrating war crimes there.
At 11:30 at night, April 8, 2002, the Israeli occupation forces invaded as-Salaam neighborhood in Southeast Rafah, close to the Egyptian border.
Five tanks and a bulldozer entered about 250 meters inside the area under Palestinian jurisdiction under the cover of heavy and continuous gunfire.
The Israelis proceeded to bulldoze land in the areas they have often attacked in the past, including four homes.
Its worth mentioning that the area is 60 meters away from an Israeli military position where there are permanent tank positions often used to fire upon the area.
The Israelis demolished a 120 sq.
meter house situated about 100m from the Egyptian border which was owned by Muhammad Hassen Abu Shawiesh and his eight family members, destroying all of their possessions inside.
At around 4am, Israeli troops withdrew.
During the operation, the Israelis shot Helmi Ashair, age 44, in the face.
At 10:30am on Arpil 9, 2002, eight Israeli tanks and a bulldozer invaded the agricultural lands around Beit Hanoun about one kilometer in, along the northeast edge of the town.
They proceeded to bulldoze lands cultivated with citrus trees, which are owned by Adham Khaled Shurab and Lima Saleem Shurab.
The Israeli troops have remained in the area, continuing to destroy more property at this time.
In Beit Lahia, the Israeli occupation forces shelled as-Saifa area at around 11:00am on April 9, injuring a farmer, Raed Hassan Sada, age 24.
He was shot in the waist while working in the field.
The Israeli occupation forces have continued imposing their strict closure over the occupied territories, dividing the Gaza Strip into three parts.
The Karni transit point, the only means for goods to enter Gaza, has also remained closed.
Israelis continue to isolate the as-Saifa area in Beit Lahia and al-Mawasi area from Khan Younis and the rest of Gaza.
Al-Mawasi has been subjected to severe closure for over two weeks, preventing the movement of persons, goods, food and medicine and cutting them off from medical facilities.
Israeli forces have continued to degrade and humiliate Palestinians in Gaza at checkpoints, in a addition to terrorizing them with nighttime incursions.
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights is highly concerned with the frequent Israeli crimes perpetrated against Palestinian civilians and the Israeli forces’ escalation of their aggression against Palestinian civilians and property.
The Center is also concerned with the perpetual Israeli siege imposed on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which constitutes part of the collective punishment procedures utilized against an occupied territory.
Al-Mezan condemns the international community’s silence in the face of such grave breaches to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the 1977 Geneva Protocols.
Such inaction serves only to encourage illegal and immoral actions perpetrated by the Israeli army as official policy and procedure.
Innocent Palestinian civilians and their property continue to suffer dearly because of this.
The Center warns the international community the dangerous consequences of more Israeli war crimes and calls on the international community to provide Palestinian civilians and their property with immediate international protection.
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