Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) prevented the UNRWA Commissioner General from passing Erez checkpoint while on his way from Gaza to the West Bank.
Also, the IOF launched incursions into Khan Younis and Der El Balah, resulting in the injury of 11 Palestinian civilians and tens of Palestinian homes were destroyed.
According to UNRWA sources, on 1 September 2004, the IOF prevented Mr.
Peter Hansen, UNRWA Commissioner General, from passing the Erez checkpoint on his way to Jerusalem to attend an important meeting to discuss the UNRWA aid for refugees in Rafah and, more generally in the occupied territories (OPT).
Furthermore, at approximately 10:40 pm on 1 September 2004, 25 IOF tanks and 4 bulldozers entered the An Nimsawi neighborhood in Khan Younis under helicopter cover and leveled large areas of land.
These tanks and bulldozers arrived from Israeli settlement of Nivi Dikalim.
At the occasion of this incursion, they ordered residents of the neighborhood to evacuate their houses and gather in a nearby school.
At approximately 5 am on the same day, the IOF destroyed 2 buildings in the same neighborhood by planting explosives.
Extensive firing continued during this operation.
The IOF withdrew from the neighborhood around 6 am, leaving behind the following damages and losses: 7 persons suffered moderate and/or serious injuries, including a child under the age of 18.
2 buildings comprising 5 floors each and previously inhabited by 180 persons.
13 houses, inhabited by 15 families (approximately 100 persons) were partially destroyed and one house was burnt due to extensive and random shelling.
The Nasser Medical Center (Hospital) was damaged and all its windows were broken as the result of a missile that fell south of the Center.
The external fence of the Al Albani mosque in west An Nimsawi neighborhood was destroyed.
On 2 September, at approximately 1:50 am, 6 IOF tanks and 3 bulldozers entered Abu Arif street in Deir Al-Balah, and bulldozed agricultural land, damaging the electricity and phone networks in the area.
At around 7 am, the IOF broke into a 4-story house owned by Fuad As-Said Sulayman Abu Misbeh, 67 years old.
All the residents of the house were locked up in a single room as the roof was occupied by the IOF for military actions, which resulted in the injury of 4 persons, including 2 children.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights emphasizes that house demolitions, razing of agricultural land and excessive use of force against civilians constitute serious violations to international human rights and humanitarian law, particularly the 4th Geneva Convention on Human Rights standards.
The Center also condemns the deliberate measures taken by the IOF to prevent the movement of both international and local humanitarian organizations staff.
This is not the first time that the UNRWA Commissioner Generals convoy has been prevented from movement or exposed to IOF fire.
The Center believes that by, taking such measures, the IOF aims at halting the work of humanitarian organizations in the OPT.
Hence, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights calls upon the International Community to relinquish from implicitly encouraging the war crimes perpetrated by IOF in the occupied Palestinian territories and to take immediate steps to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians.
END