Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestine

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (17 – 23 March 2011).

Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed 6 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children, and 4 Palestinian resistance activists in the Gaza Strip. They also wounded 28 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 11 children. In the Gaza Strip, on Saturday evening, 19 March 2011, IOF killed two Palestinian children who were nearly 300 meters away from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. It is worth noting that on 17 March, Israeli aircrafts dropped fliers on border areas warning Palestinians from getting as close as to 300 meters from the border. On 22 March 2011, IOF killed 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, and wounded 11 others, including 8 children, with artillery shells in the east of Gaza City. IOF claimed that a shell went astray and killed and wounded these civilians. PCHR's investigations refute this claim as the area was targeted by 4 successive artillery shells. On the same day, IOF killed 4 members of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad) in Gaza City. During the reporting period, IOF launched a series of air strikes on a number of Palestinian civilian facilities and a police station. The targeted facilities were destroyed and a number of houses and other property were damaged. Additionally, 15 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were lightly injured. On 19 March 2011, IOF positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israeli fired a number of artillery shells at Palestinian areas. As a result, 6 Palestinian civilians, including a child, were wounded, and a mosque was damaged. In the West Bank, IOF and Israeli settlers wounded 9 Palestinian civilians, including two children. During the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, 4 Palestinian civilians, including two children, were wounded, and dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. During the reporting period, a Palestinian civilian was wounded and two others sustained bruises by IOF that intervened to protect Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian civilians and property. On 23 March 2011, two Palestinian civilians were wounded and arrested in Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron, when IOF attacked Palestinian civilians participating in the funeral procession of a dead woman.

BBC: Why is Palestinian blood cheaper than Israeli blood?