The New Dark Age

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
http://www.pchrgaza.org

No. 02/2009
08- 14 Jan. 2009
 
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Have Continued Their War on the Gaza for the 3rd Consecutive Week under International Silence

IOF Offensive on the Gaza Strip
 

• 1,042 Palestinians have been killed.
   
• The victims include 698 civilians and 166 civil police officers.
   
• The civilian victims include 230 children and 76 women.
   
• IOF attacked medical and civil defense crews, killing 7 medical personnel.
   
• IOF attacked UNRWA vehicles, killing a driver.  
   
• 3,901 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 1,101 children and 552 women, have been wounded.
   
• 343 houses have been targeted and destroyed and hundreds of houses and flats have been damaged.
   
• 20 mosques have been destroyed.
   
• 46 workshops and industrial facilities have been destroyed.
   
• 41 security sites and public buildings have been destroyed, including those of ministries, governorates, municipalities, the Palestinian Legislative Council, and educational institutions.
   
• IOF have attacked two media institutions and a medical center
   
• A state of compulsory mass displacement of civilians has prevailed in border areas as a result of continuous air strikes.  
   
• Access to food and medicines is extremely difficult, and electricity is completely cut off in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.

Daily Violations of Human Rights
 

• 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were killed by IOF and settlers in the West Bank.
   
• 33 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children and a journalist, were wounded by IOF and settlers in the West Bank.
   
• IOF conducted 15 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
   
• IOF arrested 23 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including 3 children.
   
• IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT.
   
• The Gaza Strip is completely isolated from the outside world.

Summary

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have continued to wage the bloodiest and most brutal war against the Gaza Strip since its occupation in 1967. IOF have continued to kill Palestinian civilians, especially children and women. Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip have been a scene of intense aerial, ground and sea attacks. Investigations conducted by PCHR indicate that IOF have continued to bombard Palestinian houses and civilian facilities persistently day and night, while the Palestinian civilian population suffer a humanitarian crisis as they lack electricity, water and food supplies. IOF have continued their war on the Gaza Strip with total disregard for international humanitarian standards and humanitarian law and in violation of the resolution issued by the United Nations Security Council yesterday morning calling for a ceasefire. Israel has stressed that it would continue its offensive and has even threatened to escalate it.

The high number of civilian victims and the extensive destruction to public and private property are clear evidence that IOF, instructed by the Israeli political and military establishments, intend to cause maximum deaths and casualties among Palestinian civilians and maximum destruction to their property.     Additionally, IOF have continued to attack and obstruct the work of medical, civil defense crews and humanitarian relief crews.

PCHR believes that this declared war target Palestinian civilians and their property, and statements of Israeli political and military officials herald a humanitarian catastrophe and a persistent war at all levels. The international community is required more than ever before to immediately act to stop this gravest offensive since the Gaza Strip was first occupied by IOF. According to what PCHR field workers have been able to document so far, the number of civilian victims in the first ten minutes of the offensive on the Gaza Strip is the highest since the beginning of this offensive. PCHR reiterates its condemnation in the strongest terms for this bloody war, and calls upon the international community, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and international organizations to immediately act to stop such grave and unprecedented deterioration in the human rights situation and humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law escalated in the OPT during the reporting period (8 – 14 January 2009):

The full report is available online at:
html format:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/15-01-2009.htm
pdf format:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2008/pdf/weekly%20report%2002-09.pdf

Public Document

For further information please visit our website (http://www.pchrgaza.org) or contact PCHR’s office in Gaza City, Gaza Strip by email (pchr@pchrgaza.org) or telephone (+972 (0)8 2824776 – 2825893).
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