IOF Invade Rafah and Perpetrate a Massacre; killing Five People and Wounding 34

On Saturday April 19, 2003, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) invaded Yebna Block in Rafah refugee camp.
They killed five Palestinians and wounded 34 others, eight of whom are in critical conditions.
The IOF damaged around 30 homes in the six-hour-attack.
About 60 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles entered Rafah from the border with Egypt and the Bni Itsmona settlement at around 9:30 pm under intensive firing.
They reached the center of the refugee camp and rounded Yebna Block.
Tanks entered the Block and exploded the house of Ibrahim Salah Abu Shamaleh, father to Muhammad who is claimed wanted by the IOF.
The three-story-house was home to four families.
Additionally, IOF bulldozed seven houses in the same area and damaged 22 others.
They also destroyed 13 private motor vehicles and damaged the main electricity and phone lines.
The IOF opened intensive fire on the area killing five Palestinians and injuring 34 others.
Following is a list of the victims: Muhammad Ibrahim al-Hamaideh, aged 15; died from a live bullet in the abdomen; Sa’ied Ibrahim al-Masri, aged 28; died from a live bullet in the head; Mahmoud Ahmad Abu Koush, aged 15; died from a live bullet in the abdomen; Hussain Mahmoud Zanoun, aged 22; died from a live bullet in the abdomen; Sa’di Jum’a Abu Hadayid, aged 25; died from a live bullet in the head; The Israeli Occupation Forces destroyed an ambulance and restricted ambulance movement in and out of the area during the incursion.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights gravely condemns this crime, which is in keeping with Israel’s continued crimes against Palestinian civilians and their property in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
The Center highlights the fact that Israel tries to hide its crimes.
The killing of Nazeeh Darwazeh, a 42-year-old cameraman in Nablus yesterday, and the IOF killing of international peace activists in Rafah reveals Israel’s intentions.
Israel’s systematic targeting of civil persons and premises is only part of the collective punishment of the civilian population of the OPT.
Since April 15, 2003, the IOF tightened their siege on the OPT, dividing the Gaza Strip into three isolated parts.
As such, Al Mezan is making an urgent appeal to the international community, especially the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of August 12, 1949, to intervene immediately and put an end to Israel’s crimes.
It is the responsibility of the international community to provide effective protection for Palestinian civilians in the OPT.
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