IOF perpetrate a massacre in Rafah, Shelling a demonstration with missiles and artillery; dozens killed and wounded

In a serious escalation of their war crimes against civilians in Rafah, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF ) shelled air-to-ground guided missiles and tank shells on a peaceful  demonstration in the Gaza southern town of Rafah today Wednesday 19 May 2004.
Dozens of casualties were reported; mostly children.
Eyewitnesses said that human parts were seen on the ground of the shelling while IOF opened fire at ambulances.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights emphasizes that this deliberate act constitutes a war crime and a serious escalation of the ongoing crimes and human rights violations perpetrated by the IOF, which have been going unpunished by the International Community.
The Center also asserts that the entire world keeps a shameful, questionable state of silence towards Israel’s daily killing of civilians and destruction of civilian property in a systematic, punitive manner.
Al Mezan holds the International Community, and in particular the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War, of 12 August 1949, responsible for these continued war crimes, which are for a great deal caused by its silence and disregard of reported crimes in the past years, which has encouraged Israel to proceed and enjoy a status of a impunity.
The International Community holds a responsibility to pursue and bring to justice the Israeli criminals who perpetrated and ordered the perpetration of such crimes.
Hence, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights calls upon the International Community to relinquish from implicitly encouraging the war crimes perpetrated by IOF in the occupied Palestinian territories and to take immediate steps to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians by bringing to an immediate halt the latest IOF incursion in Rafah that started early Tuesday 18 May 19, 2004 and during which a civilian demonstration was shelled with heavy ammunition, and to Israel's continued violations of Palestinians' human rights.
The Center reminds the International Community of the responsibilities it bears under international law and treaty law and that an urgent intervention is most urgent now.
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