Press Releases

IOF Airstrikes Kill Two Children; Injures Three

Al Mezan Condemns the Attacks and Call for Protection of Civilians

    Share :

13 March 2016 |Reference 17/2016

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched four airstrikes at several training sites in Gaza using excessive force resulting in destruction beyond the targeted sites and inflicting damage on civilians and their houses. The airstrikes killed two young siblings and injured three others. Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Al Mezan) condemns the attacks and calls upon international community to act to protect civilians and lift the closure on the Gaza.

According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, at approximately 2:15 am on Saturday, 12 March 2016, Israeli jet fighters struck a training site to the northwest of Beit Lahiya with three missiles, destroying large part of the site. The shrapnel and debris hit the nearby house of Abu Khousa family, killing two children, Yasin Salman Musa Abu Khousa, 9, and his sister Isra', 6. Their siblings Ayoub, 12, and Ikram, 2, sustained injuries in several parts of their bodies.

In another IOF three airstrikes, a girl was wounded. She was identified as Malak Eyad Ahmed Al Sultan, 12, and she sustained injuries that were caused by shattered glass from her house’s broken windows. Her house is located near Abu Shbak petrol station in Jabalia, north Gaza. Medical sources at the Indonesian Hospital described her injuries as light.

Al Mezan strongly condemns these attacks which resulted in killing and injuring children as well as damaging civilian property. Al Mezan reaffirms that the continuing violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by the IOF is a result of international community's failure to address its legal and moral obligations towards civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), particularly in the Gaza Strip, which has created a serious reality of impunity.

Al Mezan reiterates its calls on international community to intervene promptly and effectively and put an end to the IOF violations of IHL and international human rights law, and to promote justice and accountability in the oPt.

END