30-11-2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Limited IOF Incursion Northwest of Beit Hanoun
Monday, November 29, 2010
Buffer zone attacks continue: three more workers shot
28 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
The northern border area of the Strip is for the second day under attack of IOF snipers. Yesterday three people were shot, including a 12 year old boy, leaving one man in a critical condition. Today three more people were injured by Israeli gunfire while working in the buffer zone, amongst them was yet again a child. Mokles Jawad Al Masri (15), Mamdoe Ajesh Alsoes (20) and Mohamed Khalil Zanin (21) were shot in Beit Hanoun, north Gaza.
15 year old Mokles Jawad Al Masri was shot at 7 am this morning while collecting rubble at approximately 500 meters from Eretz Crossing. The boy was shot in the lower leg and is now hospitalized with a fractured bone in Beit Lahyia. According to the doctor, recovery will take one to two months.
“Because of the siege, there are not many options for my family to survive. We are 17 in our home and I bring food to the table by collecting and selling rubble. It’s dangerous and I only make 50 shekels a day, but it is the only thing I can do to help. I have one older brother who is in his final year at secondary school. I also go to school, but am only in grade nine; it is still easy, so I have more spare time than my older brother. He needs to concentrate in school to get good final results, so he can get a good job.”
Mokles regularly frequents the area around Eretz Crossing to go about his daily business as a scrap collector. Today he and a friend from the neighbors went out with a rented donkey cart when he was suddenly shot.
Mokles’ father used to work in Israel as a construction worker, but since 2003 the Israeli authorities have not allowed him to travel to Israel. Like 42 percent of the Gazan population, he is unemployed. According to OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of people living in abject poverty in Gaza has risen from 100,000 to 300,000 in the last two years.
“Every day we live in fear when he goes out to work. But it’s all we have . . . All the time we’re afraid someone will come and alert us that Mokles has been arrested or shot by the soldiers,” his father exclaims in despair.
A couple of hours later, around 9:30 am, IOF attacked again and made the second victim of the day: Mamdoe Ajesh Alsoes, age 20, was shot by snipers. Mamdoe was hit in the knee and left the hospital later that day.
Mohamad Khalil Zanin, age 21, was working his land when he heard a shot and saw someone being carried away in the distance. Approximately one hour later, at 10:30 am, he himself was shot too in the leg. Yet again, the shot was fired without any warning. The bullet exited his leg, but has left Mohamed with a comminuted fracture of the bone, requiring surgery: six metal pins are placed in his leg. Recovery will require six months to a full year, according to the doctor.
The family Khalil Zanin has farming land that runs close to the border, where they grow oranges and olives.
“I must have been at 130 meters from the fence. It is close, but this is our land. We have 100 olive trees that need caring. I come here often: this week I have been here every single day. For sure, the soldiers know me from their cameras. I don’t know why they did this to me.
“I had just finished working and was making my way home when all of a sudden they shot me with an M16. I couldn’t walk, so my friend had to carry me to a car to get to the hospital.”
21 years old, Mohamed is the sole provider for his three young brothers and his parents. His father had a heart attack 13 years ago and is paralyzed on one side of his body.
“I don’t know what will happen now. No one is able to go to the land except for me. It’s the first time that they have fired at me. But who knows what will happen? I don’t want people to risk their lives there either.”
Today’s shootings bring the total amount of people injured while working in the buffer zone to 15 this month alone.
Updated on November 29, 2010
Mokles Jawad Al Masri, 15
15 year old Mokles Jawad Al Masri was shot at 7 am this morning while collecting rubble at approximately 500 meters from Eretz Crossing. The boy was shot in the lower leg and is now hospitalized with a fractured bone in Beit Lahyia. According to the doctor, recovery will take one to two months.
“Because of the siege, there are not many options for my family to survive. We are 17 in our home and I bring food to the table by collecting and selling rubble. It’s dangerous and I only make 50 shekels a day, but it is the only thing I can do to help. I have one older brother who is in his final year at secondary school. I also go to school, but am only in grade nine; it is still easy, so I have more spare time than my older brother. He needs to concentrate in school to get good final results, so he can get a good job.”
Mokles regularly frequents the area around Eretz Crossing to go about his daily business as a scrap collector. Today he and a friend from the neighbors went out with a rented donkey cart when he was suddenly shot.
Mokles’ father used to work in Israel as a construction worker, but since 2003 the Israeli authorities have not allowed him to travel to Israel. Like 42 percent of the Gazan population, he is unemployed. According to OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of people living in abject poverty in Gaza has risen from 100,000 to 300,000 in the last two years.
“Every day we live in fear when he goes out to work. But it’s all we have . . . All the time we’re afraid someone will come and alert us that Mokles has been arrested or shot by the soldiers,” his father exclaims in despair.
A couple of hours later, around 9:30 am, IOF attacked again and made the second victim of the day: Mamdoe Ajesh Alsoes, age 20, was shot by snipers. Mamdoe was hit in the knee and left the hospital later that day.
Mohamad Khalil Zanin, age 21
The family Khalil Zanin has farming land that runs close to the border, where they grow oranges and olives.
“I must have been at 130 meters from the fence. It is close, but this is our land. We have 100 olive trees that need caring. I come here often: this week I have been here every single day. For sure, the soldiers know me from their cameras. I don’t know why they did this to me.
“I had just finished working and was making my way home when all of a sudden they shot me with an M16. I couldn’t walk, so my friend had to carry me to a car to get to the hospital.”
21 years old, Mohamed is the sole provider for his three young brothers and his parents. His father had a heart attack 13 years ago and is paralyzed on one side of his body.
“I don’t know what will happen now. No one is able to go to the land except for me. It’s the first time that they have fired at me. But who knows what will happen? I don’t want people to risk their lives there either.”
Today’s shootings bring the total amount of people injured while working in the buffer zone to 15 this month alone.
IOF Opens Fire at Palestinian Farmers East Beit Hanoun
29-11-2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Gazan rubble collectors shot by Israeli forces
27 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Khalid Ashraf Abosita, 22 years, is in a critical condition after being shot by the Israeli Offensive Forces in Beit Hanoun, a city on the north-east edge of the Gaza Strip. He is currently hospitalized in Shifa hospital in Gaza City. At 6 pm, more than three hours after the assault, Khalid was trembling all over his body and was still losing a lot of blood. The bullet hit his left calf, fractured the bone and exited his leg again. According to the hospital doctor he was in an unstable state.
Equipped with a horse carriage, Khalid tries to make a living as a scrap collector. He married eight months ago and is trying to establish a family. However, living conditions in the border areas are tough: a recent Save the Children UK questionnaire reported that 73% of households near the buffer zone live below the poverty line, compared with 42% of the general population in Gaza. Like hundreds of men and youth, collecting stones, metal, pieces of concrete, and brick in the border areas–under the eye of Israeli snipers in the control towers–is the only way of making an income.
This afternoon Khalid was roughly 500 meters away from the fence when suddenly two shots were fired. The first one hit Khalid in the lower leg while the second bullet hit his horse in the neck. His friends who were collecting rubble in the neighborhood came to the rescue him and carried him close to Eretz border where an ambulance picked him up.
“Khalid has been working in this area for the past seven months. I’m sure the soldiers know him, but they shot him without warning”, says his elder brother.
When Khalid recovers from the assault, it is likely that he will have lost his source of income as the horse was left in an uncertain condition at the place of the attack.
Ma’an also reports that a 12 year old boy was mildly injured by a gun wound in the foot earlier today while working as a scrap collector in the northern border area. His identity remains unknown and the boy had already left the hospital when ISM volunteers arrived. This brings the total number of IOF buffer zone attacks to 12 within this month alone.
Updated on November 28, 2010
Khalid Ashraf Abosita, age 22
Equipped with a horse carriage, Khalid tries to make a living as a scrap collector. He married eight months ago and is trying to establish a family. However, living conditions in the border areas are tough: a recent Save the Children UK questionnaire reported that 73% of households near the buffer zone live below the poverty line, compared with 42% of the general population in Gaza. Like hundreds of men and youth, collecting stones, metal, pieces of concrete, and brick in the border areas–under the eye of Israeli snipers in the control towers–is the only way of making an income.
This afternoon Khalid was roughly 500 meters away from the fence when suddenly two shots were fired. The first one hit Khalid in the lower leg while the second bullet hit his horse in the neck. His friends who were collecting rubble in the neighborhood came to the rescue him and carried him close to Eretz border where an ambulance picked him up.
Khalid Ashraf Abosita's leg was fractured by the bullet
When Khalid recovers from the assault, it is likely that he will have lost his source of income as the horse was left in an uncertain condition at the place of the attack.
Ma’an also reports that a 12 year old boy was mildly injured by a gun wound in the foot earlier today while working as a scrap collector in the northern border area. His identity remains unknown and the boy had already left the hospital when ISM volunteers arrived. This brings the total number of IOF buffer zone attacks to 12 within this month alone.
IOF Shoots Palestinian Collecting Scrap in North Gaza District
28-11-2010
At approximately 9:15am on Sunday 28 November 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire at a group of Palestinian civilians as they were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The group was about 500 meters from the border fence west of the As-Siafa area, northwest of Beit Lahiya, in the North Gaza district when IOF fired at them. As a result, Mamdouh 'Ayish As-Sous, 27, who is a resident of Beit Lahiya, was injured in the right leg. Medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital described his injury as moderate. The civilians were terrified and left the area.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, the civilians carried Al Ghandour on a donkey-driven cart to the Al Waha area, west of Beit Lahiya, because the area of attack is close to the border fence and dirt roads do not allow ambulances to reach there.
IOF Shoots Palestinian Child Collecting Scrap near Erez Crossing
28-11-2010
At app. 9:30am on Sunday 28 November 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire at a group of Palestinian civilians as they were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The group was about 100 meters from the border fence near the Erez crossing in the North Gaza district when IOF fired at them. As a result, Mohammed Khalil Az-Za'aneen, 20, who is a resident of Beit Lahiya, was injured in the left leg. Medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital described his injuries as light. The civilians were terrified and left the area without finishing their work.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, the civilians carried Az-Za'aneen on a donkey driven cart to the Palestinian Liaison Office at Erez crossing because the area of attack is close to the border fence and roads are unpaved and ambulances can't reach there.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
IOF Shoots Palestinian Collecting Scrap near Erez Crossing
27-11-2010
IOF Shoots Palestinian Collecting Scrap northwest of Beit Lahyia
27-11-2010
At approximately 9:10am on Saturday 27 November 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire at a group of Palestinian civilians as they were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The group was about 450 meters from the border fence near the evacuated settlement Eli Sinai northwest of Beit Lahyia, in the North Gaza district when IOF fired at them. As a result, Shamikh Sa'eed De’bes, 15, who is from Jablaia town, was injured in the left leg. Medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital described his injury as moderate. The civilians were terrified and left the area without finishing their work.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, the civilians carried De’bes on a donkey driven cart to the Al Waha area, west of Beit Lahiya, because the area of attack is close to the border fence and dirt roads do not allow ambulances to reach there.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
IOF Opens Fire on Palestinian Civilians Collecting Rubble and Scrap Northeast of Al Bureij Refugee Camp
25-11-2010
At approximately 7am on Thursday 25 November 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire at Palestinian civilians who were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The group was about 400 meters from the border fence near the Wadi Gaza Village in the Middle Gaza district when IOF fired at them.
In the evening hours on Wednesday 24 November 2010, the IOF opened fire at Palestinian civilians who were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel.
PCHR report 11/11 - 24/11/2010: 4 workers shot, another 4 civilians including 1 woman and 2 children injured by airstrike, 2 incursions
Extracts from PCHR report 11/11 - 24/11/2010:
4 Palestinian civilians, including two children and a woman, and a resistance activist were wounded by IOF in the Gaza Strip.
In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted two limited incursions into the central and southern Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land, which they had already razed.
Friday, 12 November 2010
At approximately 08:15, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers near Beir Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip fired at number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from the debris of buildings in Erez industrial zone. As a result, Bashir Sami 'Aashour, 2o, from Beit Hanoun town, was wounded by a bullet to the right foot, when he was nearly 50 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
t approximately 09:00, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers at Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from the debris of destroyed buildings in Erez industrial zone. As a result, 'Ammar Khalil Hamdan, 22, from Beit Hanoun town, was wounded by a bullet to the right leg, when he was nearly 400 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Friday, 19 November 2010
At approximately 08:20, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers to the northwest of the evacuated Israeli settlement of "Elli Sinai" in the northern Gaza Strip fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials in the area. As a result, Mohammed Isma'il al-Ghandour, 34, from Beit Lahia town, was wounded by a bullet to the right foot, when he was nearly 70 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
At approximately 15:00, Israeli warplanes fired two missiles at a 120-square-meter, two-storey house belonging to Mohammed 'Alaa' al-Sharaf, 43, in the east of Wadi al-Salqa village, east of the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah. The house was totally destroyed. A nearby house belonging to Ruqaya Abu Mustafa was damaged, and 3 Palestinian civilians, including a woman and a toddler, were wounded:
1. Ruqaya Sha'ban Abu Mustafa, 54, wounded in the left side
2. 'Abdul 'Aziz Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, 20, wounded in the head; and
3. Ibrahim Salman Abu Mustafa, 2, wounded in the nose.
At approximately 15:20, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at an agricultural room in al-Zanna area in the northeast of Bani Suhaila village, east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis. The room was destroyed, and Halima 'Ouda Abu Khashan, 14, was wounded by shrapnel to the back.
At approximately 22:30, an Israeli infantry unit moved nearly 1,500 meters into al-Shouka village, east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Israeli soldiers fired at a Palestinian civilian who was near his house, but he was not hurt. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli soldiers set up ambushes in the area. They withdrew from the area at approximately 04:00 on the following day.
Saturday, 20 November 2010
At approximately 00:30, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers and military sites along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah opened fire at Gaza International Airport and its vicinity, southeast of Rafah. The shooting continued sporadically until 03:00, but no casualties were reported.
Monday, 22 November 2010
At approximately 12:00, IOF moved nearly 150 meters into al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. They opened fire and leveled areas of Palestinian land, which they had already razed.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
At approximately 09:45, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip opened fire at dozens of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from the debris of destroyed buildings in Erez industrial zone. As a result, Rami 'Aayesh al-Shandaghli, 28, from Jabalya town, was wounded by a bullet to the left foot, when he was nearly 400 meters away.
IOF continued to fire at Palestinian workers, farmers and fishermen in border areas in the Gaza Strip.
- 4 Palestinian workers were wounded
4 Palestinian civilians, including two children and a woman, and a resistance activist were wounded by IOF in the Gaza Strip.
In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted two limited incursions into the central and southern Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land, which they had already razed.
Friday, 12 November 2010
At approximately 08:15, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers near Beir Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip fired at number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from the debris of buildings in Erez industrial zone. As a result, Bashir Sami 'Aashour, 2o, from Beit Hanoun town, was wounded by a bullet to the right foot, when he was nearly 50 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
t approximately 09:00, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers at Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from the debris of destroyed buildings in Erez industrial zone. As a result, 'Ammar Khalil Hamdan, 22, from Beit Hanoun town, was wounded by a bullet to the right leg, when he was nearly 400 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Friday, 19 November 2010
At approximately 08:20, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers to the northwest of the evacuated Israeli settlement of "Elli Sinai" in the northern Gaza Strip fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials in the area. As a result, Mohammed Isma'il al-Ghandour, 34, from Beit Lahia town, was wounded by a bullet to the right foot, when he was nearly 70 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
At approximately 15:00, Israeli warplanes fired two missiles at a 120-square-meter, two-storey house belonging to Mohammed 'Alaa' al-Sharaf, 43, in the east of Wadi al-Salqa village, east of the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah. The house was totally destroyed. A nearby house belonging to Ruqaya Abu Mustafa was damaged, and 3 Palestinian civilians, including a woman and a toddler, were wounded:
1. Ruqaya Sha'ban Abu Mustafa, 54, wounded in the left side
2. 'Abdul 'Aziz Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, 20, wounded in the head; and
3. Ibrahim Salman Abu Mustafa, 2, wounded in the nose.
At approximately 15:20, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at an agricultural room in al-Zanna area in the northeast of Bani Suhaila village, east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis. The room was destroyed, and Halima 'Ouda Abu Khashan, 14, was wounded by shrapnel to the back.
At approximately 22:30, an Israeli infantry unit moved nearly 1,500 meters into al-Shouka village, east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Israeli soldiers fired at a Palestinian civilian who was near his house, but he was not hurt. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli soldiers set up ambushes in the area. They withdrew from the area at approximately 04:00 on the following day.
Saturday, 20 November 2010
At approximately 00:30, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers and military sites along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah opened fire at Gaza International Airport and its vicinity, southeast of Rafah. The shooting continued sporadically until 03:00, but no casualties were reported.
Monday, 22 November 2010
At approximately 12:00, IOF moved nearly 150 meters into al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. They opened fire and leveled areas of Palestinian land, which they had already razed.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
At approximately 09:45, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip opened fire at dozens of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from the debris of destroyed buildings in Erez industrial zone. As a result, Rami 'Aayesh al-Shandaghli, 28, from Jabalya town, was wounded by a bullet to the left foot, when he was nearly 400 meters away.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
IOF Shoots Palestinian Collecting Scrap near Erez Crossing
24-11-2010
At app. 9:45am on Wednesday 24 November 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire at a group of Palestinian civilians as they were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The group was about 400 meters from the border fence near the Erez crossing in the North Gaza district when IOF fired at them. as a result, Rami 'Ayish Ahmed Ash-Shandaghli, 28, who is from Jablaia town, was injured in the right leg. Medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital described his injury as light. The civilians were terrified and left the area without finishing their work.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, the civilians carried Ghaben on a donkey driven cart to the Palestinian Liaison Office at Erez crossing because the area of attack is close to the border fence and roads are unpaved and ambulances can't reach there.
IOF Arrests One Palestinian Collecting Rubble in North Gaza District
24-11-2010
At approximately 6am on Wednesday 24 November 2010, Israeli troops penetrated an area east of As-Siafa neighborhood, northwest Beit Lahia town in North Gaza district. Soldiers opened fire at Palestinian civilians who were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The group was about 300 meters from the border fence when the soldiers fired at them. They chased them and arrested one person; Ibrahim Tal'at Ibrahim Al Ashqar, 24, who is a resident of Beit Lahyia town.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Israel bombs Gazan homes, injuring six
21 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
House bombed in Deir al-Balah
The afternoon of November 19th an Israeli fighter plane bombed a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The house of the Dar Shorafa family, located 400 meters from the border fence, has disappeared. At the center of the date palm garden is a 3 m deep crater with the rubble of the former house scattered around.
At the time of attack the residents were absent, but the neighbors witnessed the attack. The Abu Mustafa family lives opposite them, approximately 50 meters from the bombed house. When the strike happened they were in the back yard hosting visitors. A moderate strike was heard and while the family was looking for shelter, a loud explosion rocketed debris through the air. Four people were hit and the roof of the family’s basic house was pierced five times.
Rokia Shaban, a 52 year old woman, was hit in the abdomen, the upper leg, and on the shoulder. She left the hospital this morning and is now recovering in her damaged home. Wijdan Samir (29), Abdal Aziz (20) and two year old Ibrahim Sulayman were slightly injured. Because the scene is close to the buffer zone, it took the ambulance more than 30 minutes to arrive. Palestinian public services, like police cars and ambulances, cannot come this near to the border without coordinating with the Israeli authorities on the risk of being shot. The buffer zone runs along the Israeli fence and “officially” has a width of 300 meters on the Palestinian side. Israel claims this is a no-go-zone and deems it legitimate to shoot people within the area. However, according to a recent UN report the danger zone runs up to 1.5 km.
Sulaiman Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, the head of the family, firmly states that there is absolutely no resistance taking place on this site, contradicting the terrorist accusations of the Israeli military spokesperson.
“The Israelis are lying by claiming that resistance is taking place here. This is but an agricultural zone: we grow olives and eggplants. Even during the attacks in Cast Lead, we were spared. I don’t know why we were attacked; it comes totally unexpected; we are normal civilians trying to live off our land.”
Israeli tanks hold daily incursions on the Palestinian side of the barrier here, but today the army has remained invisible.
“Maybe they finally went to sleep after they bombed us”, laughs Suleiman Ibrahim while comforting his crying two year old son.
Farmhouse bombed in Khan Younis
The previous night, a suspected Israeli drone bombed a farmhouse in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, severely injuring a man and mildly a child.
The shelling of the farmhouse began approximately at midnight on Friday night. The first hit next to the livestock farm and 31 year old Mohammed Abdel Hassan Abuhussien, on guard duty, tried to scramble for cover as the shrapnel flew scattering into the surrounding walls and roof, injuring 2 bulls and a cow. The second followed quickly after and this time Mohammed could not avoid the shrapnel flying directly at him. Luckilty his co-worker who was nearby came to rescue him.
“It’s just a farm yard, it’s a deserted place, that’s all there is there. It has never been a dangerous place – just livestock and a few factories. They have no idea why they’d hit the farm,” said his brother at the hospital. Mohammed was lying with his eyes half closed unable to communicate. He had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his shoulder and another in his right side that had penetrated his lung.
His wife, four months pregnant, and two young sons and daughter were at his bedside. They say it will be hard for them now and much will depend on Mohammed’s father to handle the situation. His brother was injured in the first intifada when he was 5 years old and still has the bullet inside his body. “We expect nothing less from Israel than to just attack innocent people like this— a guy sitting as a watchman for some cows and bulls. He’s just a worker with a growing family. His life was difficult enough,” he told us.
On the visit to the farm there were two holes in the roof of the barnyard where the shells landed; one made a dent in the concrete floor between two bull pens. It was apparently another attack from an Israeli drone and the explosive impact sent shrapnel flying around the farmhouse, injuring 2 bulls and a cow. The shrapnel is still inside the large animals’ bodies, and one is now unable to walk. At the time of the attack, the security guard Mohammed had been sitting between them at one side. The roof of the barnyard is littered with holes.
“It will cost 20,000 U.S. dollars to fix the roof,” said the farm owner Salah Saleem Afana. But this is not the first time for Salah. The Israeli forces destroyed 2 dunums of his land next to the border with Egypt during the war, turning to rubble a 400m2 house he had there.
“We also lost hundreds of animals and two relatives were injured when the car they were in was bombed. The cost of all that was 120,000 US$ — and our crime? Living and farming near to the border? Just like what will happen for us here, there was no compensation and no justice. It’s the same way the international community treats all the crimes against us everyday from the siege, the bombings, the destruction and the killings. When it’s the Palestinians they just look away.”
Updated on November 23, 2010
House bombed in Deir al-Balah
Rubble of bombed house in Deir al-Balah
At the time of attack the residents were absent, but the neighbors witnessed the attack. The Abu Mustafa family lives opposite them, approximately 50 meters from the bombed house. When the strike happened they were in the back yard hosting visitors. A moderate strike was heard and while the family was looking for shelter, a loud explosion rocketed debris through the air. Four people were hit and the roof of the family’s basic house was pierced five times.
3 meter deep crater at the centre of the date palm garden, scattered with rubble of the destroyed house
Sulaiman Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, the head of the family, firmly states that there is absolutely no resistance taking place on this site, contradicting the terrorist accusations of the Israeli military spokesperson.
Rubble in place of obliterated house in Deir al-Balah
Israeli tanks hold daily incursions on the Palestinian side of the barrier here, but today the army has remained invisible.
“Maybe they finally went to sleep after they bombed us”, laughs Suleiman Ibrahim while comforting his crying two year old son.
Farmhouse bombed in Khan Younis
31 year old farmhouse guard Mohammed Abdel Hassan Abuhussien in Europa (Khan Younis) hospital bed, shrapnel in his side and shoulder
The shelling of the farmhouse began approximately at midnight on Friday night. The first hit next to the livestock farm and 31 year old Mohammed Abdel Hassan Abuhussien, on guard duty, tried to scramble for cover as the shrapnel flew scattering into the surrounding walls and roof, injuring 2 bulls and a cow. The second followed quickly after and this time Mohammed could not avoid the shrapnel flying directly at him. Luckilty his co-worker who was nearby came to rescue him.
“It’s just a farm yard, it’s a deserted place, that’s all there is there. It has never been a dangerous place – just livestock and a few factories. They have no idea why they’d hit the farm,” said his brother at the hospital. Mohammed was lying with his eyes half closed unable to communicate. He had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his shoulder and another in his right side that had penetrated his lung.
Livestock hit by shrapnel in Khan Younis farmhouse
On the visit to the farm there were two holes in the roof of the barnyard where the shells landed; one made a dent in the concrete floor between two bull pens. It was apparently another attack from an Israeli drone and the explosive impact sent shrapnel flying around the farmhouse, injuring 2 bulls and a cow. The shrapnel is still inside the large animals’ bodies, and one is now unable to walk. At the time of the attack, the security guard Mohammed had been sitting between them at one side. The roof of the barnyard is littered with holes.
Hole in roof of Khan Younis farmhouse
“We also lost hundreds of animals and two relatives were injured when the car they were in was bombed. The cost of all that was 120,000 US$ — and our crime? Living and farming near to the border? Just like what will happen for us here, there was no compensation and no justice. It’s the same way the international community treats all the crimes against us everyday from the siege, the bombings, the destruction and the killings. When it’s the Palestinians they just look away.”
Limited IOF Incursions East of Middle Gaza District
23-11-2010
Limited IOF Incursion East of Jabalia Town and Gaza City
23-11-2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Israel wages war against Gazan rubble collectors
17 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
28 year old Ibrahim Yousef Ghaben from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, personifies the trials of life for Palestinians and their families, and the multitude of hardships brought by Israel’s siege and violent attacks. It would not normally have been Ibrahim’s choice to collect rubble with a donkey cart as a means of providing for his sick mother, wife and 8 young children. But in Gaza, external pressures force people to make choices that anywhere else would be deemed beyond reason and perhaps beyond imagination.
The shooting on the 10th of November was the latest setback for Ibrahim, the most recent of the 10 rock collectors shot near or in the Israeli imposed ‘buffer zone’ during the last 3 weeks. The buffer zone is a 300m wide strip of land that runs along the border from where Israel justifies shooting those who enter, although according to a recent United Nations report people are at risk up to 1500 metres from the border. Ibrahim couldn’t speak because he was in so much pain, as he lay in his hospital bed with his right leg plastered and bolted.
His brother Atif described, “he was shot by Israeli soldiers stationed at a border control tower in his right leg when he was about 600 metres from the fence. Friends put him on a donkey cart and took him to an ambulance. The bones in the lower part of his leg have been shattered, and the doctors think it was a ‘dum dum’ (explode on impact) bullet. He had been collecting rubble for 5 months with his donkey cart in the Beit Hanoun border area.”
Every day hundreds of men and youth collect stones, metal, pieces of concrete and brick in the border areas despite common knowledge that Israeli snipers are at every control tower. They get around 50 shekels for a donkey cart but, like Ibrahim, many of them end up in a hospital bed with a cast wrapped around their bullet wounds.
So why do they do it? The recurring reasons given by scrap and rock-collectors is a complete lack of available work.
Israel’s siege has torn the economy apart and left 67% of the population without jobs. The few imports allowed in are costly and Israel continues to ban all exports from the Strip. The economic value in Gaza of ‘rubble’ has emerged only over the last two years, due to the huge demand for building materials and the very limited supply. Israel allows literally no concrete and building materials to enter the Gaza Strip and although inefficient, recycling the stones and rocks is still cheaper than the small amounts of high priced concrete brought in through the Rafah tunnels from Egypt.
Most of the rubble collectors are based in the North in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya where incursions are frequent, hence the larger number of border side houses and other buildings that have been bulldozed or bombed by the Israeli Occupation Forces. What’s more in Beit Hanoun near the Erez crossing was the site of an industrial centre built by Israel before their forces were redeployed to the border areas in 2005, an area with a high concentration of concrete and stone.
Intensifying the dire need for building material was Israel’s operation: ‘Cast Lead’: the 3 week bombing and land assault over the new year of 2009 that destroyed or damaged beyond repair over 20,000 houses, schools, universities, hospitals, office buildings and mosques. The attack also killed 1400 people including over 400 children; a further 5300 were injured. Ibrahim’s house in Beit Lahiya was destroyed by shelling during the attacks nearly 2 years ago and on Wednesday he became the tenth rock collector in three weeks to be shot collecting rubble.
On Thursday 21st October, we met 23 year old Bassem Gassem and 24 year old and Omar Sabri Hamad who that morning had both been shot in their right foot in Beit Hanoun near to Erez crossing. They were near to the Israeli imposed ‘buffer-zone’.
“There were 50 rock collectors around the area I was shot, without a warning.” Bassem told us. “I was hot and walking so didn’t feel the pain initially, but once I came to the hospital the pain began. He had plied this trade for nearly one and a half years and still can’t see another option once he has recovered. “I used to work the markets with fruit and veg from Erez crossing when it was open but that work dried up. So I began collecting rocks after the war. This is part of life for our families, the siege, the shootings of people guilty of nothing but hard work when there are not jobs. People around the world see the circumstances we have here but they do nothing.”
His mother by his bedside explained the responsibility that was on Bassem’s shoulders: “His father was injured and paralysed during the war. There are 14 family members altogether and he’s the only one providing a regular wage for us. But he’s a strong boy; he’s been working for the family since the 5th grade. I told him not to do this job because of the danger and go back to the markets – but he knows that 30-40 shekels a day is not enough for the family.”
“I will go back there, it’s the only work there for me”, said Bassem
Omar from Beit Hanoun is married with 2 children and the bullet broke bones in his foot, requiring surgery. He will not be going back. “It was my first day collecting rubble, I need the money for my family and there’s no jobs here, no means of providing for my family. A few hundred metres from the control tower at 9am with no warning they shot me in the leg and friends had to carry me out. That’s it for me, I’ll never do that again.”
The other area with numerous border attacks is around Beit Lahiya where Nazmi Salim Tanboura, a 50 year old father of 10 was shot through his thighs at 8:15am on Sunday 31st October. He was approximately 800m from the fence when one bullet went through the back of both of his thighs. “I caught a glimpse of two Israeli soldiers stationed on a small hill. They shot me and I was shouting for my son but he was far away. A friend nearby came and put me on a donkey cart. I was taken to Beit Lahiya corner where an ambulance arrived and took me to the hospital. I’m the only one supporting the family and my sons are all married.”
Like the others, the circumstances around him had left Nazmi with no choice. “There are no jobs, there’s no work. Many people go there despite all the stories of people getting shot. My cousin was shot collecting rocks last month but I didn’t think of stopping. But I’m old now. I’ll buy a new donkey for my cart and try going back to work on the vegetable markets. I don’t depend on people on the outside because we’re always sending messages out but the world doesn’t see us or listen to us. Look how we live! I only have God to turn to here.”
Last Wednesday, as we left Ibrahim in Beit Lahiya hospital, his father was wiping his son’s brow while his 10 year old son stood crying at his bedside. There was a fear as to the ordeal still ahead for Ibrahim’s slow and painful road to recovery. Brother Atif said he and his brothers’ families would take care of him and his children but doesn’t see much hope for Ibrahim to go back to work. “The doctor said his leg is smashed and he’ll be in this condition for 6 months. We don’t know what he’ll be capable of doing in 6 months, or what he has the will to do. Before this he was a farm labourer.”
A cousin Mohammed was not hopeful that the hardships faced due to the Israeli occupation and siege would recede any time soon: “The only thing Ibrahim cared about was earning a wage to provide for his family. If the siege was ended and the concrete and building materials could arrive like in any other country, people like my brother wouldn’t be forced to risk their lives doing this. And the response – bullets while the world watches.”
Atif said that everyone faces danger no matter how they try and live in Gaza: “We have large families in Gaza and we want to work but we’re deprived of our livelihoods, our dignity. Its not just rock collecting. People in the cities are all at risk from bombing, shelling. I’m a University graduate in Psychology, I have no job and I now may work in the Rafah tunnels where there are frequent casualties from Israeli attacks, just to make ends meet.”
Updated on November 19, 2010
28 year old Ibrahim Yousef Ghaben from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, personifies the trials of life for Palestinians and their families, and the multitude of hardships brought by Israel’s siege and violent attacks. It would not normally have been Ibrahim’s choice to collect rubble with a donkey cart as a means of providing for his sick mother, wife and 8 young children. But in Gaza, external pressures force people to make choices that anywhere else would be deemed beyond reason and perhaps beyond imagination.
-
- Collecting rocks near the Erez Border, Beit Hanoun
-
- Ibrahim Yousef Ghaben, 28, from Beit Lahia
-
- Bassem Qassem 23 years old, from Beit Hanoun
-
- Omar Sabri Hamad 24 years old, from Beit Hanoun
-
- Nazmi Salim Tanboura, 50 years old, from Beit Lahia
His brother Atif described, “he was shot by Israeli soldiers stationed at a border control tower in his right leg when he was about 600 metres from the fence. Friends put him on a donkey cart and took him to an ambulance. The bones in the lower part of his leg have been shattered, and the doctors think it was a ‘dum dum’ (explode on impact) bullet. He had been collecting rubble for 5 months with his donkey cart in the Beit Hanoun border area.”
Every day hundreds of men and youth collect stones, metal, pieces of concrete and brick in the border areas despite common knowledge that Israeli snipers are at every control tower. They get around 50 shekels for a donkey cart but, like Ibrahim, many of them end up in a hospital bed with a cast wrapped around their bullet wounds.
So why do they do it? The recurring reasons given by scrap and rock-collectors is a complete lack of available work.
Israel’s siege has torn the economy apart and left 67% of the population without jobs. The few imports allowed in are costly and Israel continues to ban all exports from the Strip. The economic value in Gaza of ‘rubble’ has emerged only over the last two years, due to the huge demand for building materials and the very limited supply. Israel allows literally no concrete and building materials to enter the Gaza Strip and although inefficient, recycling the stones and rocks is still cheaper than the small amounts of high priced concrete brought in through the Rafah tunnels from Egypt.
Most of the rubble collectors are based in the North in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya where incursions are frequent, hence the larger number of border side houses and other buildings that have been bulldozed or bombed by the Israeli Occupation Forces. What’s more in Beit Hanoun near the Erez crossing was the site of an industrial centre built by Israel before their forces were redeployed to the border areas in 2005, an area with a high concentration of concrete and stone.
Intensifying the dire need for building material was Israel’s operation: ‘Cast Lead’: the 3 week bombing and land assault over the new year of 2009 that destroyed or damaged beyond repair over 20,000 houses, schools, universities, hospitals, office buildings and mosques. The attack also killed 1400 people including over 400 children; a further 5300 were injured. Ibrahim’s house in Beit Lahiya was destroyed by shelling during the attacks nearly 2 years ago and on Wednesday he became the tenth rock collector in three weeks to be shot collecting rubble.
On Thursday 21st October, we met 23 year old Bassem Gassem and 24 year old and Omar Sabri Hamad who that morning had both been shot in their right foot in Beit Hanoun near to Erez crossing. They were near to the Israeli imposed ‘buffer-zone’.
“There were 50 rock collectors around the area I was shot, without a warning.” Bassem told us. “I was hot and walking so didn’t feel the pain initially, but once I came to the hospital the pain began. He had plied this trade for nearly one and a half years and still can’t see another option once he has recovered. “I used to work the markets with fruit and veg from Erez crossing when it was open but that work dried up. So I began collecting rocks after the war. This is part of life for our families, the siege, the shootings of people guilty of nothing but hard work when there are not jobs. People around the world see the circumstances we have here but they do nothing.”
His mother by his bedside explained the responsibility that was on Bassem’s shoulders: “His father was injured and paralysed during the war. There are 14 family members altogether and he’s the only one providing a regular wage for us. But he’s a strong boy; he’s been working for the family since the 5th grade. I told him not to do this job because of the danger and go back to the markets – but he knows that 30-40 shekels a day is not enough for the family.”
“I will go back there, it’s the only work there for me”, said Bassem
Omar from Beit Hanoun is married with 2 children and the bullet broke bones in his foot, requiring surgery. He will not be going back. “It was my first day collecting rubble, I need the money for my family and there’s no jobs here, no means of providing for my family. A few hundred metres from the control tower at 9am with no warning they shot me in the leg and friends had to carry me out. That’s it for me, I’ll never do that again.”
The other area with numerous border attacks is around Beit Lahiya where Nazmi Salim Tanboura, a 50 year old father of 10 was shot through his thighs at 8:15am on Sunday 31st October. He was approximately 800m from the fence when one bullet went through the back of both of his thighs. “I caught a glimpse of two Israeli soldiers stationed on a small hill. They shot me and I was shouting for my son but he was far away. A friend nearby came and put me on a donkey cart. I was taken to Beit Lahiya corner where an ambulance arrived and took me to the hospital. I’m the only one supporting the family and my sons are all married.”
Like the others, the circumstances around him had left Nazmi with no choice. “There are no jobs, there’s no work. Many people go there despite all the stories of people getting shot. My cousin was shot collecting rocks last month but I didn’t think of stopping. But I’m old now. I’ll buy a new donkey for my cart and try going back to work on the vegetable markets. I don’t depend on people on the outside because we’re always sending messages out but the world doesn’t see us or listen to us. Look how we live! I only have God to turn to here.”
Last Wednesday, as we left Ibrahim in Beit Lahiya hospital, his father was wiping his son’s brow while his 10 year old son stood crying at his bedside. There was a fear as to the ordeal still ahead for Ibrahim’s slow and painful road to recovery. Brother Atif said he and his brothers’ families would take care of him and his children but doesn’t see much hope for Ibrahim to go back to work. “The doctor said his leg is smashed and he’ll be in this condition for 6 months. We don’t know what he’ll be capable of doing in 6 months, or what he has the will to do. Before this he was a farm labourer.”
A cousin Mohammed was not hopeful that the hardships faced due to the Israeli occupation and siege would recede any time soon: “The only thing Ibrahim cared about was earning a wage to provide for his family. If the siege was ended and the concrete and building materials could arrive like in any other country, people like my brother wouldn’t be forced to risk their lives doing this. And the response – bullets while the world watches.”
Atif said that everyone faces danger no matter how they try and live in Gaza: “We have large families in Gaza and we want to work but we’re deprived of our livelihoods, our dignity. Its not just rock collecting. People in the cities are all at risk from bombing, shelling. I’m a University graduate in Psychology, I have no job and I now may work in the Rafah tunnels where there are frequent casualties from Israeli attacks, just to make ends meet.”
IOF Attack Destroys House; Injures Four including Child and Two Women North of the Wadi As-Salqa Village
19-11-2010
IOF Shoots Palestinian Collecting Scrap in North Gaza District
19-11-2010
At approximately 9am on Friday 19 November 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire at a group of Palestinian civilians as they were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The group was about 200 meters from the border fence west of the As-Siafa area, north west of Beit Lahiya, in the North Gaza district when IOF fired at them. As a result, Mohammed Ismail Al Ghandour, 34, who is a resident of Beit Lahiya, was injured in the right leg. Medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital described his injury as moderate. The civilians were terrified and left the area.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, the civilians carried Al Ghandour on a donkey-driven cart to the Al Waha area, west of Beit Lahiya, because the area of attack is close to the border fence and dirt roads do not allow ambulances to reach there.
Israeli Aircraft Attack East Khan Younis; Injures Child
19-11-2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Beit Hanoun commemorates 2006 massacre, Israeli forces shoot Gazan rubble collector
13 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement -Gaza
The demonstration in the Beit Hanoun Buffer-zone tuesday remembered the brutal Israeli shelling in the area 4 years earlier that killed 20 civilians and injured 60. Palestinians of the Local Initiative group and 4 International Solidarity Movement activists approached the wall at Erez crossing and passed rock collectors in the buffer zone some 100 metres from the border. The next day, Israeli soldiers positioned on observation towers near the crossing fired at the workers, shot 28 year old Ibrahim Yousef Ghaben, 28, in his right leg, breaking his bone and bringing the total number of rock collectors shot by Israeli snipers to 10 in 3 weeks, 7 injured in the Beit Hanoun border area alone.
Once the demonstrators reached the border, chanting and waving flags, they planted a Palestinian flag on the outer wall of the Erez crossing tunnel. Saber Al Za’anin, the General Coordinator of the Local Initiative group spoke of the tragedy that devastated families in the Beit Hanoun area on the 9th of November. “We are here today to ensure that the families, the men, women and children killed, injured and left behind from the massacre on November 2006 are never forgotten, and we will carry on with our struggle to bring justice for these crimes and all of the others that have befallen our people.”
He was referring to one of the most horrific massacres that took place in Gaza’s recent history before Israel’s assault in operation ‘Cast Lead’ during the winter of 2009.
The Israeli operation was called ‘Autumn Clouds’. One day after the Israeli army declared that it had finished the operation in Beit Hanoun after international pressue, 20 people were killed and at least 45 were injured as a large number of shells were fired at the town. Many of the victims were women and children and 11 were from the same Al-A’athamein family.
The massacre took place after a siege and street occupation by Israeli ground troops between the 2nd and 8th of November 2006. The soldiers searched house-to-house, arresting, imprisoning and interrogating males over the age of 16 years. Families were forced to stay together in a single room while Israeli soldiers took over floors and rooftops of the buildings, electricity and gas were cut and people often had not access to toilets.
A group of 1500 unarmed women demonstrated during the 7 day siege of the town in an effort to free men gathered in a mosque, only for Israeli troops to open fire on them too. 2 of the women were killed and a further 20 injured, highlighting that however the peaceful the resistance is, the same brutality applies.
Casualties arrived at Al Awda hospital in Jabalya from the beginning of the siege, but delays by soldiers to evacuate them meant some died needlessly, and those that made it to the hospital had no family members to accompany them.
It was the early morning of 9th November, when the 20 civilians were killed as Israeli forces shelled an apartment building which housed around 120 people. Majdi El Athamina lost three brothers and one of his sons, 9 year old Sa’ad – his wife and another son were seriously injured.
Dr Mona El Farra who was receiving the casualties at the Al Awda hospital remembers the horrors that emerged during the week:
“Dina El-Athamina 2 year old toddler, she had bad fractures in the pelvis – there was no father and mother with her because she lost both. The killed and the injured arrived day by day, it was horrific, the hospital was chaos. It was only civilians killed – 7 children and later the army admitted ‘it was a mistake’ Even a rescue worker and a neighbor who went to rescue the family were shot and killed. Ambulances were not allowed into the villages.
I remember one mother was in full labour – noone was allowed in or out of village. After 4 hours waiting to be allowed to leave the village, she left and came to hospital and gave birth. The army was in the village shelling and storming houses, so noone could visit. She returned home with baby in her arms to find her house was demolished. “
People couldn’t imagine the violence increasing but according to Dr Mona after the 2006 bombing, the violence has actually intensified, epitomized by the huge civilian casualties in Cast Lead. “They have no limits, no boundaries for their brutality, no ideas of safety for civilians and health workers. It is a racist, colonial regime that has no respect for international law. We believe that we have our rights and we know that justice is on our side and will one day arrive with the help of the huge solidarity around the world and the growing international boycott, divestment and sanction movement that more and more people of conscience are joining.”
Tuesday’s demonstration ended without incident despite shootings there being a regular occurrence in the previous weeks. For the rock collectors working near to where the protest took place, the perils of occupation continue. An industry only created by the blockade of concrete and the fact 17000 home were so badly damaged, they now turn to this work to help feed their families
Updated on November 14, 2010
The demonstration in the Beit Hanoun Buffer-zone tuesday remembered the brutal Israeli shelling in the area 4 years earlier that killed 20 civilians and injured 60. Palestinians of the Local Initiative group and 4 International Solidarity Movement activists approached the wall at Erez crossing and passed rock collectors in the buffer zone some 100 metres from the border. The next day, Israeli soldiers positioned on observation towers near the crossing fired at the workers, shot 28 year old Ibrahim Yousef Ghaben, 28, in his right leg, breaking his bone and bringing the total number of rock collectors shot by Israeli snipers to 10 in 3 weeks, 7 injured in the Beit Hanoun border area alone.
Once the demonstrators reached the border, chanting and waving flags, they planted a Palestinian flag on the outer wall of the Erez crossing tunnel. Saber Al Za’anin, the General Coordinator of the Local Initiative group spoke of the tragedy that devastated families in the Beit Hanoun area on the 9th of November. “We are here today to ensure that the families, the men, women and children killed, injured and left behind from the massacre on November 2006 are never forgotten, and we will carry on with our struggle to bring justice for these crimes and all of the others that have befallen our people.”
He was referring to one of the most horrific massacres that took place in Gaza’s recent history before Israel’s assault in operation ‘Cast Lead’ during the winter of 2009.
The Israeli operation was called ‘Autumn Clouds’. One day after the Israeli army declared that it had finished the operation in Beit Hanoun after international pressue, 20 people were killed and at least 45 were injured as a large number of shells were fired at the town. Many of the victims were women and children and 11 were from the same Al-A’athamein family.
-
- Local initiative demonstaters at Erez crossing
A group of 1500 unarmed women demonstrated during the 7 day siege of the town in an effort to free men gathered in a mosque, only for Israeli troops to open fire on them too. 2 of the women were killed and a further 20 injured, highlighting that however the peaceful the resistance is, the same brutality applies.
Casualties arrived at Al Awda hospital in Jabalya from the beginning of the siege, but delays by soldiers to evacuate them meant some died needlessly, and those that made it to the hospital had no family members to accompany them.
It was the early morning of 9th November, when the 20 civilians were killed as Israeli forces shelled an apartment building which housed around 120 people. Majdi El Athamina lost three brothers and one of his sons, 9 year old Sa’ad – his wife and another son were seriously injured.
Dr Mona El Farra who was receiving the casualties at the Al Awda hospital remembers the horrors that emerged during the week:
“Dina El-Athamina 2 year old toddler, she had bad fractures in the pelvis – there was no father and mother with her because she lost both. The killed and the injured arrived day by day, it was horrific, the hospital was chaos. It was only civilians killed – 7 children and later the army admitted ‘it was a mistake’ Even a rescue worker and a neighbor who went to rescue the family were shot and killed. Ambulances were not allowed into the villages.
I remember one mother was in full labour – noone was allowed in or out of village. After 4 hours waiting to be allowed to leave the village, she left and came to hospital and gave birth. The army was in the village shelling and storming houses, so noone could visit. She returned home with baby in her arms to find her house was demolished. “
People couldn’t imagine the violence increasing but according to Dr Mona after the 2006 bombing, the violence has actually intensified, epitomized by the huge civilian casualties in Cast Lead. “They have no limits, no boundaries for their brutality, no ideas of safety for civilians and health workers. It is a racist, colonial regime that has no respect for international law. We believe that we have our rights and we know that justice is on our side and will one day arrive with the help of the huge solidarity around the world and the growing international boycott, divestment and sanction movement that more and more people of conscience are joining.”
Tuesday’s demonstration ended without incident despite shootings there being a regular occurrence in the previous weeks. For the rock collectors working near to where the protest took place, the perils of occupation continue. An industry only created by the blockade of concrete and the fact 17000 home were so badly damaged, they now turn to this work to help feed their families
Fire on Gaza borders continues, worker injured
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A Saturday morning shooting incident by Israeli forces patrolling the Gaza border brought up to 67 the number of men collecting construction aggregates injured by Israeli fire, medical officials said.
Shortly before 9 a.m., an unidentified 22-year-old man collecting cement aggregates near the Erez border crossing was told by Israeli forces patrolling the unilaterally-declared "no-go zone" to leave the area.
Workers, who are paid by the weight of the aggregates they collect, head to the border areas particularly in the north where former settlements - demolished during the military pull-out of 2005 - provide ample resources.
When the man failed to leave the area, a military spokeswoman said, shots were fired into the air, and then toward his lower body.
Medics who retrieved the man said he sustained a gunshot wound to the foot. Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Silmiyya said he was evacuated to the Kamal Udwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.
The military spokeswoman said soldiers identified a hit.
Since 2009, when Israeli forces increased the unmarked area of the no-go zone to up to one kilometer in some areas, Abu Silmiyya said two have been killed and 67 injured.
During the three-week war Israel launched on Gaza in December 2008, more than 1,400 Gaza residents were killed and the UN estimated 6,000 homes were destroyed. Israel's blockade has barred reconstruction materials such as iron re-bar, aggregates and cement. After a slight easing of the siege in June 2010, construction materials were only permitted into the Strip for the UN and some international aid agencies.
Gaza entrepreneurs developed methods to recycle cement and process rubble into new concrete blocks. Other companies collect and sort aggregates, then sell them to families whose homes were destroyed during the war.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
PCHR weekly report 4/11 - 10/11/2010: 2 workers injured, 4 incursions, airstrike
extracts from PCHR weekly report 4/11 - 10/11/2010:
IOF continued to fire at Palestinian workers, farmers and fishermen in border areas in the Gaza Strip.
- Two Palestinian workers were wounded
In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted 4 limited incursions into Palestinian communities in the central and northern Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land, which they had already razed.
Sunday, 07 November 2010
At approximately 06:15, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from the debris of Erez industrial zone. As a result, Karam Talal al-Adham, 19, from Beit Lahia town,was wounded by a bullet to the left leg.
At approximately 10:00, IOF moved nearly 250 meters into the east of Gaza Valley village in the central Gaza Strip. They searched and leveled areas of Palestinian land.
Tuesday, 09 November 2010
At approximately 08:00, IOF moved nearly 200 meters into the northwest of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. They leveled areas of Palestinian land, which they had already razed. IOF withdrew from the area at approximately 09:15 and no casualties were reported.
At approximately 09:00, IOF moved nearly 250 meters into the northeast of al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. They leveled areas of Palestinian land near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
At approximately 07:45, Israeli soldiers positioned on observation towers near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw constriction materials from the debris of destroyed buildings in Erez industrial zone. As a result, Ibrahim Yousef Ghaben, 28, from Beit Lahia town, was wounded by a bullet to the right leg, when he was nearly 200 meters away from the border.
At approximately 08:15, Israeli helicopter gunships opened fire at Gaza International Airport, southeast of Rafah. The gunfire, which lasted for 45 minutes sporadically, targeted a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials. No casualties were reported.
At approximately 10:45, IOF moved nearly 300 meters into the east of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. They then moved nearly 1,200 meters southwards to Abu Safiya area in the east of Jabalya town. During this incursion, IOF leveled areas of Palestinian land. They withdrew from the area at approximately 13:10.
IOF continued to fire at Palestinian workers, farmers and fishermen in border areas in the Gaza Strip.
- Two Palestinian workers were wounded
In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted 4 limited incursions into Palestinian communities in the central and northern Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land, which they had already razed.
Sunday, 07 November 2010
At approximately 06:15, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towers near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials from the debris of Erez industrial zone. As a result, Karam Talal al-Adham, 19, from Beit Lahia town,was wounded by a bullet to the left leg.
At approximately 10:00, IOF moved nearly 250 meters into the east of Gaza Valley village in the central Gaza Strip. They searched and leveled areas of Palestinian land.
Tuesday, 09 November 2010
At approximately 08:00, IOF moved nearly 200 meters into the northwest of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. They leveled areas of Palestinian land, which they had already razed. IOF withdrew from the area at approximately 09:15 and no casualties were reported.
At approximately 09:00, IOF moved nearly 250 meters into the northeast of al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. They leveled areas of Palestinian land near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
At approximately 07:45, Israeli soldiers positioned on observation towers near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw constriction materials from the debris of destroyed buildings in Erez industrial zone. As a result, Ibrahim Yousef Ghaben, 28, from Beit Lahia town, was wounded by a bullet to the right leg, when he was nearly 200 meters away from the border.
At approximately 08:15, Israeli helicopter gunships opened fire at Gaza International Airport, southeast of Rafah. The gunfire, which lasted for 45 minutes sporadically, targeted a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting raw construction materials. No casualties were reported.
At approximately 10:45, IOF moved nearly 300 meters into the east of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. They then moved nearly 1,200 meters southwards to Abu Safiya area in the east of Jabalya town. During this incursion, IOF leveled areas of Palestinian land. They withdrew from the area at approximately 13:10.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
B'Tselem Video: No-go zones along the perimeter fence in the Gaza Strip
B'Tselem
The Gaza Strip is narrow, elongated, and densely populated. One of the main agricultural areas in the Gaza Strip runs along the eastern border with Israel, adjacent to the perimeter fence. In recent years, B'Tselem has gathered testimonies indicating that the Israeli security forces have defined broad swaths of these areas as no-go zones, where the open-fire regulations permit live fire at anyone who enters, even persons who pose no danger.
Length: 3.19 mins
New Incursion By Israeli Troops Into Gaza
Wednesday November 10, 2010 11:37 by Alessandra Bajec - IMEMC & Agencies
Also, Israeli forces allegedly attacked a group of Gazans with live fire while they were collecting gravel nearby. One of them suffered injuries and was taken to a local hospital to receive medical treatment.
The attack followed flights by Israeli fighter jets over Gaza last night.
For over 3 years, Israel has kept closed all border crossings to the Gaza Strip. Since June 2007, the illegal blockade on Gaza has been steadily tightened having a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the coastal strip.
The 1.5 million population is being deprived of basic rights including adequate living conditions, work, health and education, and freedom of movement. Poverty and unemployment rates approximately account for 80% and 60% respectively in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip with its forces advancing hundreds of meters into the east of the southern city of Khan Younis, Press TV reported on Wednesday.
Also, Israeli forces allegedly attacked a group of Gazans with live fire while they were collecting gravel nearby. One of them suffered injuries and was taken to a local hospital to receive medical treatment.
The attack followed flights by Israeli fighter jets over Gaza last night.
For over 3 years, Israel has kept closed all border crossings to the Gaza Strip. Since June 2007, the illegal blockade on Gaza has been steadily tightened having a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the coastal strip.
The 1.5 million population is being deprived of basic rights including adequate living conditions, work, health and education, and freedom of movement. Poverty and unemployment rates approximately account for 80% and 60% respectively in the Gaza Strip.
Explosions Near Gaza Borders Leaves Four Injured
Wednesday November 10, 2010 10:50 by Ane Irazabal - IMEMC & Agencies
Abu Salmiyya added that that an explosion surely caused by munitions left behind by Israeli forces near Nahal Oz border, in the northeast of the strip.
Furthermore, Gaza residents reported that two workers were also injured near the south-eastern border with Israel, when an Israeli artillery shell was fired towards them. They were evacuated to the European Hospital in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli military spokesman said he was unaware of any Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza Strip, but he claimed that two projectiles were fired toward Israel from an area near the Kerem Shalom crossing, and that only one of the projectiles landed in Israeli territory.
On Tuesday, two Palestinians were injured in an explosion near the northeast border of Gaza Strip, possibly caused by munitions left by the Israeli army. Two more Palestinians were also injured by projectiles near the Kerem Shalom crossing, in the southern border.A 17-year-old and a 22-year-old were transferred to hospital suffering mild injuries, medical spokesman, Adham Abu Salmiyya said.
Abu Salmiyya added that that an explosion surely caused by munitions left behind by Israeli forces near Nahal Oz border, in the northeast of the strip.
Furthermore, Gaza residents reported that two workers were also injured near the south-eastern border with Israel, when an Israeli artillery shell was fired towards them. They were evacuated to the European Hospital in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli military spokesman said he was unaware of any Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza Strip, but he claimed that two projectiles were fired toward Israel from an area near the Kerem Shalom crossing, and that only one of the projectiles landed in Israeli territory.
2 injured in explosion near Gaza border
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Two Palestinians were injured Tuesday in an explosion near the Nahal Oz border crossing in the northeast of Gaza.
Medical spokesman Adham Abu Salmiyya said the explosion was thought to have been caused by munitions left behind by Israeli forces.
A 17-year-old and a 22-year-old were transferred to hospital with light injuries, he said.
Gaza residents, meanwhile, said an Israeli artillery shell was fired Tuesday toward two workers near the south-eastern border with Israel, lightly injuring both.
An Israeli military spokesman said he was unaware of any Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza Strip, but two projectiles were fired toward Israel from an area near the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Only one of the projectiles landed in Israeli territory, he said.
Abu Silmiyya initially said the workers were injured by shrapnel of an Israeli artillery shell. They were evacuated to the European Hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, he said.
Medical spokesman Adham Abu Salmiyya said the explosion was thought to have been caused by munitions left behind by Israeli forces.
A 17-year-old and a 22-year-old were transferred to hospital with light injuries, he said.
Gaza residents, meanwhile, said an Israeli artillery shell was fired Tuesday toward two workers near the south-eastern border with Israel, lightly injuring both.
An Israeli military spokesman said he was unaware of any Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza Strip, but two projectiles were fired toward Israel from an area near the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Only one of the projectiles landed in Israeli territory, he said.
Abu Silmiyya initially said the workers were injured by shrapnel of an Israeli artillery shell. They were evacuated to the European Hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, he said.
Demonstrators wave Palestinian flag for first time on Beit Hanoun crossing
| [ 09/11/2010 - 07:14 PM ] |
 |
| GAZA, (PIC)-- Dozens of Palestinians and foreigners demonstrated Tuesday near the Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, for the first time ever waving the Palestinian flag on the crossing gate. This came during a weekly demonstration staged by the Local Initiative in Beit Hanoun under the framework of the popular resistance against the Israeli occupation and military imposition of the so-called prohibited security, or buffer, zone. Demonstrators from the Local Initiative accompanied by four foreign supporters successfully reached the crossing gate where they waved the Palestinian flag on the east side of the crossing on the territory of Beit Hanoun, in a new achievement for the initiative, which made it to the gate for the first time. The initiative’s general coordinator Sabir Al Za’anein said today marked a new achievement for the popular resistance against Israel’s imposition of the buffer zone and the success of local initiative activists in entering the farmlands to which Israeli authorities have restricted access. On his part, British activist Addie Marmash, 32, said: We support the struggle of the Palestinian people in their right to popular resistance against the Israeli occupation. He added: The Palestinian people have been under occupation for decades, and we international activists and believers in the just cause of the Palestinians work to support the Palestinians in light of difficult circumstances the Palestinian residents of the occupied territories live in. He underlined that solidarity movements with the Palestinians throughout Europe are on the rise. |
IOF troops open fire at residential quarters in southern Gaza, wound worker
| [ 10/11/2010 - 11:13 AM ] |
 |
| GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) mounting armored vehicles raided Palestinian land east of Rafah city, south of the Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, security sources reported. They added that IOF troops in eight armored vehicles and escorting bulldozers leveled land in Nahda suburb in Rafah and fired at nearby homes. PIC reporter said that a big explosion targeted one of the armored vehicles and that the blast was followed by intensive firing on the part of the IOF troops. He added that Israeli warplanes were seen over the area as the soldiers shot at nearby residential quarters. In northern Gaza a Palestinian worker was hit by an IOF bullet in his foot while collecting gravel near the Beit Hanun (Erez) crossing on Wednesday morning. Adham Abu Salmiya, the coordinator of medical services, said in a statement to the PIC that a 28-year-old citizen was hit and hospitalized. He added that the casualty is the 66th since the start of 2009. |
Worker shot by Israeli force in northern Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian man was injured by Israeli fire on Wednesday while he collected scrap construction materials in northern Gaza near the Erez crossing.
Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said a 28-year-old identified only by his initials YG was lightly injured and transferred to the Kamal Udwan Hospital for treatment.
Abu Salmiya said 66 people have been injured collecting scrap supplies in the area since 2009.
An Israeli military spokeswoman responded: "The area adjacent to the security fence is a combat zone used by terrorist organizations to execute attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers and to plan kidnapping attacks. For this reason, the IDF will not allow anyone to be present in it."
She added: "During this morning's incident, soldiers fired warning shots in the air a number of times in an attempt to drive the suspects away from the fence. When the suspects failed to consent, the forces fired toward the suspects' lower bodies, and identified hitting one of the suspects."
Workers are targeted nearly every day by Israeli soldiers patrolling the buffer zone, an area of Palestinian territory along Gaza’s northern and eastern borders.
As Israel bans concrete and crushed stone for construction, young men often go to evacuated settlements to collect gravel from buildings that Israeli forces demolished before the unilateral withdrawal in 2005.
A 19-year-old worker died of asphyxiation Sunday after he fell in a ditch and was buried under rubble as he collected stone aggregates in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Another teenager was injured Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire at a group of workers collecting rubble near an evacuated Israeli settlement in northern Gaza.
Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said a 28-year-old identified only by his initials YG was lightly injured and transferred to the Kamal Udwan Hospital for treatment.
Abu Salmiya said 66 people have been injured collecting scrap supplies in the area since 2009.
An Israeli military spokeswoman responded: "The area adjacent to the security fence is a combat zone used by terrorist organizations to execute attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers and to plan kidnapping attacks. For this reason, the IDF will not allow anyone to be present in it."
She added: "During this morning's incident, soldiers fired warning shots in the air a number of times in an attempt to drive the suspects away from the fence. When the suspects failed to consent, the forces fired toward the suspects' lower bodies, and identified hitting one of the suspects."
Workers are targeted nearly every day by Israeli soldiers patrolling the buffer zone, an area of Palestinian territory along Gaza’s northern and eastern borders.
As Israel bans concrete and crushed stone for construction, young men often go to evacuated settlements to collect gravel from buildings that Israeli forces demolished before the unilateral withdrawal in 2005.
A 19-year-old worker died of asphyxiation Sunday after he fell in a ditch and was buried under rubble as he collected stone aggregates in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Another teenager was injured Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire at a group of workers collecting rubble near an evacuated Israeli settlement in northern Gaza.
IOF Shoots Palestinian Collecting Scrap near Erez Crossing
10-11-2010
At app. 7:45am on Wednesday 10 November 2010, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire at a group of Palestinian civilians as they were collecting scrap and rubble from the destroyed structures near the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The group was about 200 meters from the border fence near the Erez crossing in the North Gaza district when IOF fired at them. As a result, Ibrahim Yousif Ibrahim Ghaben, 28, was injured in the right leg, causing a fracture. Medical sources at Kamal Odwan Hospital described his injuries as severe. The civilians were terrified and left the area without finishing their work.
Limited IOF Incursion east of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia
10-11-2010
At approximately 11am on Wednesday 10 November 2010, seven Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers moved about 200 meters to the east of Beit Hanonun. Then the tanks and bulldozers moved to Abu Safiya area east of Jabalia. Bulldozers leveled lands that had been razed before. At approximately 1pm on the same day, the force withdrew from the area. No casualties or injuries were reported in this incursion.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Limited IOF Incursion North Gaza District
9-11-2010
At approximately 8am on Tuesday 9 November 2010, five Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers moved under fire about 200 meters north of the As-Siafa area northwest of Beit Lahiya, in North Gaza district. Bulldozers leveled lands that had been razed before. At approximately 9:30am on the same day, the force withdrew from the area. No casualties or injuries were reported in this incursion.
Two Palestinian workers wounded in IOF shelling
| [ 09/11/2010 - 05:38 PM ] |
 |
| GAZA, (PIC)-- Two Palestinian workers were wounded on Tuesday when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired an artillery shell at a group of workers collecting gravel south of Gaza Strip. Adham Abu Salmiya, the coordinator of medical services in the Strip, said that an IOF tank fired a shell at the workers near the Soufa crossing to the east of Rafah, south of the Strip, wounding two of them. He added that one of them was a 17-year-old and the other a 25-year-old youth, noting that their injuries were slight to moderate. IOF troops routinely target gravel collectors killing two and injuring dozens over the past couple of years. Many unemployed Palestinian workers head to border areas to collect gravel from destroyed buildings to sell them in the market to meet the need for construction material that was banned from entry into the Strip by the IOF. |
IOF troops advance in central Gaza
| [ 09/11/2010 - 10:42 AM ] | ||
 | ||
GAZA, (PIC)-- A number of Israeli armored vehicles advanced in central Gaza east of the Maghazi refugee camp on Tuesday morning, Palestinian security sources told the PIC reporter. They said that seven military vehicles, including tanks, armed personnel carriers, and bulldozers advanced amidst intensive firing at citizens' homes. The sources noted that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) escorted the bulldozers while damaging Palestinian cultivated land lots east of the refugee camp. ------------ 9-11-2010 Limited IOF Incursion in Middle Gaza
|
Monday, November 8, 2010
IOF troops fire at residential quarters in Rafah
| [ 08/11/2010 - 11:09 AM ] |
 |
| RAFAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired at Palestinian citizens' homes and land east of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, on Sunday night but no casualties were reported. Media sources said that the soldiers stationed at military watchtowers in the vicinity of Karm Abu Salem military base opened intermittent, indiscriminate fire at the Dehniya and airport areas. |
Soldiers shoot worker on north Gaza border
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A Palestinian man was injured Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire at a group of workers collecting stone aggregates near an evacuated Israeli settlement in northern Gaza.
Eyewitnesses said 19-year-old Karam Al-Adham was shot in his left leg near the abandoned Eli Sinai structure northwest of Beit Lahiya. He was evacuated to hospital, where medics said he sustained moderate injuries.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that a force fired on two Palestinians who "approached the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip. The force fired warning shots, and when the two did not leave the scene, he fired at the lower body and identified a hit."
Workers are targeted nearly every day, and 25 Palestinian civilians have been killed in the border area since the end of Israel's three-week offensive on Gaza that ended in January 2009.
As Israel bans concrete and crushed stone for construction, young men often go to evacuated settlements to collect gravel from buildings that Israeli forces demolished before the unilateral withdrawal in 2005.
--------
Eyewitnesses said 19-year-old Karam Al-Adham was shot in his left leg near the abandoned Eli Sinai structure northwest of Beit Lahiya. He was evacuated to hospital, where medics said he sustained moderate injuries.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that a force fired on two Palestinians who "approached the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip. The force fired warning shots, and when the two did not leave the scene, he fired at the lower body and identified a hit."
Workers are targeted nearly every day, and 25 Palestinian civilians have been killed in the border area since the end of Israel's three-week offensive on Gaza that ended in January 2009.
As Israel bans concrete and crushed stone for construction, young men often go to evacuated settlements to collect gravel from buildings that Israeli forces demolished before the unilateral withdrawal in 2005.
--------
Palestinian worker hit with IOF bullets |
| [ 07/11/2010 - 10:37 AM ] |
 |
| GAZA, (PIC)-- A Palestinian worker was hit with a bullet fired by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) east of Gaza city while collecting gravel, medical sources said. Adham Abu Salmiya, the coordinator of medical services, told the PIC that a 20-year-old citizen was hit with a bullet in his foot during his work. The IOF troops routinely target Palestinian workers collecting gravel along the eastern and northern borders of the Gaza Strip that caused many casualties. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
