IOF intensify assassination crimes and disregard children, killing 3 children and injuring 15 other citizens

21 June 2006

IOF killed three children and injured 15 citizens, among them 8 children, in the latest assassination crime in the Gaza Strip whereby it completely disregarded the lives of civilians, especially children.
This crime occurs following the shelling on Beit Lahia Beach where an entire family was killed and 11 Palestinians were assassinated, among them 10 bystanders and medics.
According to Al Mezan's fieldworkers, on June 20th at approximately 7.
20pm, Israeli military jets fired two missiles at a car on the highly populated Jabalia Nazla St, killing 3 children and injuring 15, also among them 8 children.
The victims are: Mohamd Rouqa, 5, Belal Al Hessi, 16, and 6 year- old girl Samira Al Sharif.
Al Mezan condemns the ongoing IOF extrajudicial assassinations; it confirms that such crimes are a clear example of systematic premeditated murder by the IOF of Palestinian civilians, where IOFdoes not refrain from killing children and other civilians.
Further, Al Mezan reiterates that international law bans all types of extrajudicial killings or executions without trial; assassination crimes constitutes war crimes according to international humanitarian law, notably the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as human rights treaties, particularly the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural rights.
Al Mezan hereby urges the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention, to immediately intervene to put an end to Israeli crimes and provide protection to civilians in the face of increasing numbers of war crimes.
Al Mezan believes that the intervention of the international community is a legal and ethical duty and a pressing necessity at a time where the IOF are intensifying both the siege and their offensive on the Gaza Strip, and are taking advantage of the current silence of the international community, a status that will subject Palestinians to a human disaster.