On the 2nd Anniversary of the Jenin Massacre, IOF Continue Aggression in the Gaza Strip: 1 Civilian Killed and 46 Homes Demolished

Two years after the Jenin massacre of 2002, in which over 60 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded and massive destruction of homes, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue their constant aggression in the Gaza Strip.
On 4 April 2004, one Palestinian was killed and 46 homes were demolished in an incursion into the town of Rafah.
At approximately 2:30 am on 4 April 2004, about 35 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles entered the As-Salam Neighborhood south of Rafah under the cover of helicopters.
The tanks opened intensive fire on the area and killed 19-year-old Muhammad Azmi Abid, who was wounded near his house in the nearby neighborhood of Al Brazil.
At 4:30 am, the IOF mined and destroyed a two-story house belonging to Fathi Ali Abu Ghali.
According to Al Mezan's initial fieldwork investigations, 46 homes were destroyed or damaged a result of the explosion of Abu Ghali's house.
470 persons were previously living in these apartment and houses.
The IOF also destroyed six motor vehicles, one workshop and much of the area’s infrastructure including streets and electricity, phone and water lines.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights is highly concerned by Israel's continued aggression against Palestinian civilians and property in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
The Center is particularly alarmed by the systematic illegal destruction of residences near the border with Egypt in the south of the Gaza Strip, which has already left thousands of civilians homeless, in breach of the international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War.
The continuity of such crimes shows that Israel enjoys a status of impunity as regards to the international law.
Al Mezan, as such, calls upon the International Community to immediately intervene fulfills their legal and moral responsibility to protect Palestinian civilians and to ensure the compliance by Israel of its international obligations under the 4th Geneva Convention.