2PM Gaza Time Unlawful attacks by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have continued during the reporting period, which extends between 2pm on 1 August 2014 and 2pm on 2 August 2014.
Attacks on civilians and civilian targets have continued; especially in Rafah town in the south of the Gaza Strip, and Gaza City.
Rafah has been totally isolated from the Gaza Strip with a siege of fire, and its population have been ordered by the IOF to stay indoors or be targeted by Israeli fire.
People cannot leave the town, and are at high risk if they move within it.
People in Rafah face serious risk to their life if they move to find food or try to evacuate the injured and the dead as a result of IOF attacks from houses or street they were targeted in.
Yesterday, the IOF fired at an ambulance vehicle, killing its driver and one of the medics in it, and preventing people from accessing them injured who were in it by firing at anyone who tried to approach it.
The situation in Rafah is grave since after the carpet shelling of the town by the IOF yesterday morning; in which dozens of civilians were killed; including people who returned to their homes at the start of the declared humanitarian truce staring at 8am yesterday.
The IOF continued to bombard Rafah and launched many aerial attacks on the town; including on houses with residents inside them without giving them any warning, which caused the number of casualties soar.
The humanitarian situation continued to worsen across the Gaza Strip during the reporting period.
The halt of the operation of the Coastal Water Utility, the sole provider of water in the Gaza Strip, has continued following the total failure to deliver water and sanitation services due to exhaustion of fuel reserves and full blackout, in addition to the frequent attacks on personnel as they tended to water facilities.
With full blackout for many days now, the lack of household water has increased the risk of disease and affected various other essential services.
The pressure on hospitals has also increased with more hospitals having to stop their operations due to IOF attacks on them, or on ambulances or people trying to approach them.
About half a million displaced people have had to endure weeks of displacement in UN shelters and homes of friends or relatives; all of which are not designed to receive such numbers for so long.
As of 2 pm today, Saturday 2 August 2014, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights was able to verify that at least 1,671 Palestinians have been killed by the IOF.
This number does not include many of the casualties who were killed in IOF attacks in Rafah since yesterday, and others under the rubble of houses in several areas in the east of the Gaza Strip.
Of the 1,671, 379 are children and 201 women.
According to Al Mezan's initial investigations 1,372 (i.
e.
82.
1%) of the victims are civilians.
At least 799; including 260 children and 168 women, were killed inside their houses; and two other disabled women were killed in an attack on a rehabilitation NGO's office.
Another 180 people were killed in the vicinity of their houses; including in situations where they were trying to flee from their homes as a result of IOF attacks.
Moreover, at least 6,809 other people were injured during the same period; of whom at least 1,798 were children and 1,236 women.
At least, 5,403 houses were destroyed or damaged during this period; of which 795 were destroyed completely as the IOF directly and deliberately attacked 790 of the total number of damaged houses.
Dozens of other civilian facilities; including hospitals, NGO offices.
Schools, mosques and Gaza's only power plant were also destroyed or damaged.
Rafah district: IOF drones targeted at least 20 houses in Rafah with missiles since last night; destroying them and causing varied damages to dozens of houses.
Al Mezan's field work team was unable to visit the locations of many houses, and were not able to access the eastern parts of the district, where it is believed dozens of houses were destroyed or damaged from IOF's intensive shelling.
At least 86 people have been verified as killed from IOF fire in Rafah during the period between 2 pm on 31 July 2014 and 2 pm today, 2 August 2014.
Al Mezan was unable to identify the names and ages of most of the victims.
In fact, most of them could not be identified by their own families as the IOF continued to attack people on the streets; including people who try to access the main hospital in the town.
57 of the dead bodies of the victims have been kept in the mortuary of the Al Najjar hospital; the main hospital in the town.
13 of those were not identified by the time this press release was issued at 2 pm today.
the hospital's administration have been waiting for confirmation from the International Committee of the Red Cross, who can seek coordination for ambulances to collect the dead bodies to the hospital so they can be identified.
The rest have been kept in refrigerators designed to keep vegetables around the town; including 16 who were sent to the Kuwaiti hospital in the Shabora refugee camp and 13 to the Emirates hospital in Tal As Sultan area in Rafah.
These two hospitals are specialized and do not have the ability to keep dead bodies properly.
Starting last night, the IOF launched a series of aerial attacks targeting houses around Rafah; including many attacks on houses with residents inside the house and without warning.
At approximately 11 pm on 1 August 2014, IOF aircraft bombarded the house of Ra'fat Odeh Zoroub, which is located in a housing project donated by Saudi Arabia and built by the UNDP for people who had been displaced due to IOF destruction of their homes in Rafah.
The attack killed 15 people from the family Zoroub; ten of whom were children and four were women.
At approximately 5:30 pm on Friday 1 August 2014, an IOF drone fired a missile at an ambulance as it was trying to reach injured people in the Msabbeh neighborhood, north of Rafah.
The attack killed the ambulance driver, 42-year-old Atef Salih Al Zamli, and a medic, 25-year-old Yousef Jabr Darabeeh.
At approximately 2:30 am on 1 August 2014, IOF aircraft bombarded four houses for the families of Al Neirab, Abu Eeta, Al Manyarawi, and Al Ghoul.
The houses are clustered near each other and are roofed by asbestos; all located in the poor, densely populated Al Shabora refugee camp.
Seven people were killed inside these houses; of whom five were children.
At approximately 2:40 am, also on 1 August 2014, IOF aircraft bombarded the house of the Abu Suleiman family in Rafah, killing seven people who were a woman and six children.
They were identified as: Wafaa Younis Abu Suleiman, 28; Rana Raed Abu Suleiman, 10; Mohammed Rami Abu Suleiman, 8; Manar Rami Abu Suleiman, 11; Ahmed Rami Abu Suleiman, 12; Hanan Rami Abu Suleiman, 5; Ahmed Rami Abu Suleiman, 3; Tens of other people were injured in the attack and dozens of houses were damaged.
Starting around 9:30 am on Friday 1 August 2014, the IOF opened artillery fire towards displaced people who were returning to their homes in the eastern parts of Rafah at the start of the humanitarian truce, which had started at 8 am according to announcements by the UN and the US.
The IOF fired hundreds of shells at them indiscriminately.
The shelling was also accompanied by aerial bombing on the same areas.
Dozens of people were killed and injured as a result.
Hundreds of people took refuge at the Al Najjar hospital in the east of the town.
The intense shelling caused chaos in the town and ambulance teams were unable to access and aid the injured because of the continuous fire.
At the same time, IOF drones started a campaign of missile attacks at homes while people were inside them.
As the numbers of casualties and injured soared, people started to evacuate injured people in private cars, many of which were then targeted by drones.
Because many attacks occurred in the vicinity of the Al Najjar hospital, and the danger ambulances and people ran into trying to evacuate the inured to it, the hospital administration decided to stop admission of any injured or dead persons and referred people to the Kuwaiti and Emirates, which are very small, specialized hospitals in Rafah.
Later in the evening, and considering the risk on the personnel and patients at the hospital, it was evacuated.
Medical teams have had to deal with serious injuries without operations rooms and other essential facilities in the town.
North Gaza district: At approximately 5:10 pm on Friday 1 August 2014, IOF aircraft bombarded a cattle farm that is located near houses west to the Beit Lahiya cemetery, killing an old women and her granddaughter.
They were identified as Suad Ali Al Bahri, 72, and Sama Nael Al Birrawi, 10 months.
The girl's aunt, Amneh Saleem Ashour, 40, was moderately injured.
The three were sitting in their house's yard when the attack took place.
At approximately 2:55 am on Saturday 2 August 2014, IOF aircraft bombarded the house of Mohammed Mahmoud Al Dada, which is located in the Al Nazla neighborhood in Jabalia town.
Mohammed's son, 28-year-old Fuad Al Dada, was killed and a neighbor was injured in the attack.
Al Mezan's initial investigation into this incident indicates that Fuad, who had been displaced with his family, went to the family house to bring some essentials when it was attacked.
Four neighboring houses were also damaged in this attack.
At approximately 4 am on Saturday 2 August 2014, IOF aircraft bombarded the Omari mosque in the center of Jabalia town.
The Mo'athin (the person who makes the call for prayer) of the mosque was killed.
He was identified as Dawoud Zakariya Suleiman, 55.
A neighbor was also injured moderately.
The Mo'athin was in the mosque preparing to make the call for the Al Fajr (dawn) prayer when the attack took place.
The mosque was severely damaged and the Al Rafe'i School and four houses were damaged.
Gaza City: At approximately 2 pm yesterday, Friday 1 August 2014, the Shifa hospital received the dead body of Sa'eed Salim Abu Al Kas, 22, who had been killed since 20 July 2014.
The victim was recovered from under the rubble of his house, which the IOF bombarded in the Al Shejai'ya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City.
About thiry miutes later, the dead bodies of three other men were also admitted at the Shifa hospital after being recovered from under a residential building in the same neighborhood of Al Sheja'iya.
They were identified as Hasan Mahmoud Al Sirsawi, 24; Nael Nabil Al Sirsawi, 28; and Shareef Salah Al Qanou', 24.
At approximately 7 pm on Friday 1 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired two missiles at a Tuk Tuk that was carrying a number of people in the Al Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.
Many of them were killed and injured.
People who live in the attack location hurried to help them.
They were helped into a car of a man who lives in the area; Tareq Fayiz Yaseen, 42; however, the IOF aircraft fired another missile at the car before it drove, killing four; including the car's owner, his son, Fayiz Tareq Yaseen, 16, and three other men: Mohammed Ihab Yaseen, 25, Suheil Ibrahim Shamallahk, 23, and Hussein Ismail Yaseen, 30.
At approximately 10:30 pm on Friday 1 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired three missiles at the house of Suleiman Salim Abu Sharee'a, 65, which is located in the Al Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City.
The house was totally destroyed, displacing its 13 residents.
The IOF had called the residents by phone prior to the attack, and they were able to evacuate it safely.
At approximately 11 pm on Friday 1 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired a missile at a man who was near the Al Abrar mosque in the Al Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.
The man, 30-year-old Salah Ziyad Mousa, was killed in the attack.
At approximately 11:30 pm on Friday 1 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired a missile at the house of Ahmed Mohammed Al Neirab, 67, which is located in the Al Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
The house was bombarded with their residents inside it, totally destroying it and killing its owner, his wife and their three children.
Their names are: Ahmed Mohammed Al Neirab, 67; Suheila Ahmed Al Neirab, 35; Mohammed Ahmed Al Neirab, 14; Mu'men Ahmed Al Neirab, 8; Mahmoud Ahmed Al Neirab, 10.
At approximately 1 am on Saturday 2 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired seven missiles at the Al Imam Al Shafe'I mosque in central Gaza City, destroying it and causing severe damages to several houses around it.
At approximately 2:30 am on Saturday 2 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired a missile at the apartment of Abdel Nasser Atallah, which is located on the 14th floor of the Al Dana apartment building on the Al Nasser Street in the west of Gazz a City.
The apartment, which is on the building's roof, was destroyed and damages occurred on the 13th floor of the building.
At approximately 4:30 am on Saturday 2 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired three missiles at an administration building in the Islamic University in Gaza City.
The six-story building was severely damaged.
The Conferences Room, which lies opposite to this building on the campus, was also severely damaged.
At approximately 5 am on Saturday 2 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired four missiles at the house of Mahmoud Khalil Abu Issa, 50.
The house is made of two floors and is located in the Al Shamali neighborhood, north of the Beach (Shati) refugee camp, west of Gaza City.
It was totally destroyed in the attack, displacing ten people.
The IOF called the residents prior to the attack and they were able to evacuate it.
At approximately 5:20 am on Saturday 2 August 2014, IOF aircraft fired three missiles at the headquarters of the Al Multazim Insurance Company, which is located on the Al Saraya crossroads in central Gaza City.
The building was totally destroyed.
Middle Gaza district: In the Middle Gaza district, the IOF continued to target homes and bombarded seven houses during the reporting period.
Six of the houses were destroyed completely and three people were killed: Wael Nehad Al Sayid, 23; Amr Tareq Qandeel, 19; and Mohammed Tayseer Qandeel, 21.
They were killed inside their house in the Al Maghazi refugee camp; in which another 19 people were injured, including four children and seven women.
Khan Younis district: The IOF continued to attack civilian targets in Khan Younis during the reporting period, especially attacking the eastern parts of the district with artillery.
Attacks also occurred during the humanitarian truce, during which tens of artillery shells were fired by the IOF.
Moreover, the district saw aerial bombardment of several houses during this period; in which eight people were killed, including two children and one woman.
Al Mezan field team has confirmed that rescue team were able to recover 41 dead bodies from the eastern parts of Khan Younis district during the reporting period.
Of those, 31 were recovered from Khuza'a town, seven from Al Qarara town, and three from Abassan town.
There reports about more dead people under the rubble of houses in these areas.
As people and rescue teams were able to access these areas in Khan Younis district, they saw wide-scale destruction in them, rendering them not suitable for people to return to.
These areas will require reconstruction for quite a long time and full rehabilitation of the water, power, sanitation and other systems.
Their residents, who are mostly staying in UN shelters at the moment, will not be able to relocate to their houses soon and will likely face a long time of displacement.
Al Mezan strongly condemns the IOF's continued violations of the rules of international law (IHL).
Attacks on civilians and/or civilian objects constitute war crimes under international law.
In hundreds of incidents, the IOF has shown flagrant disregard to IHL rules the prohibit directing attacks at civilians and civilian objects, and a chronic failure to make the obligatory effort to spare civilians; especially with wanton, targeted attacks on inhabited homes, hospitals, UN shelters and ambulances.
Moreover, the IOF directed attacks on facilities and resources that are indispensible for the life of the civilian population and humanitarian workers, wich as ambulance crews and personnel dealing with water and sanitation facilities.
These attacks are not an exception or accidental, but represent a continuous pattern and make up the bulk of its attacks.
The indiscriminate shelling and bombardment of civilians; most of who returning IDPs in Rafah and other areas cannot be justified, as these people were visibly civilians and who were subject to intense shelling when they were trying to flee from IOF fire.
Al Mezan condemns the continued failure of international community to provide the due protection for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, and its failure to clearly condemn IOF's flagrant violations of international law.
This failure has encouraged serious violations of international law, which is reflected in human lives, to continue.
Al Mezan therefore calls on the international community to: Condemn with the strongest terms Israel's grave breaches of IHL in the context of Operation Protective Edge; Take immediate, effective action to provide the due protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip from military attacks and persecution; Express unequivocal support and play a positive role in ensuring that credible, independent investigations into the suspected violations of human rights and IHL in the context of the operation Protective Edge to ensure accountability for those who committed them, and redress for their victims; and Press for an immediate end of Israel's unlawful closure and blockade of the Gaza Strip.
END