Operation Pillar of Defence, pictures and voices
Some of the photos posted by Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Gaza. See last item.
Jihad al-Masharawi, an employee of BBC Arabic in Gaza, cries after his son Omar was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City November 14, 2012. Photo by Reuters/Ahmed Zakot
Unheard voice of Israelis in Gaza region
Other Voice, Facebook
November 15, 2010
We, members of the villages and townships in the Gaza enveloping region call on the Israeli government to stop mucking around with our lives and immediately enter into diplomatic and political contacts with the Hamas Government!! We are sick and tired of being sitting ducks who serve political interests.
Rockets from there and bombardments from here do not protect us. We have played around with those games of the use of force and war for long enough. And both sides have paid, and are continuing to pay, a high price of loss and suffering. The time has to come to endeavour to reach long-term understandings which will enable civilians on both sides of the border to live a normal life.
We’d be most appreciative if everyone were to share this message throughout the Internet.
Members of the Other Voice group
The Other voice group is composed of residents of Sderot and other places in the Gaza enveloping region who have maintained a continuous link with Gaza residents of the Gaza Strip. The group advances neighbourly and communicative relationships throughout the South and the entire land.
Media release, Physicians for Human Rights, Israel
November 15,2012
According to information received by Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, 11 people have been killed in Gaza, including 4 children (one of which an 11 month toddler). 3 people have been killed in Kiryat Malahi, Israel. Our colleagues in Gaza report 115 people have been injured in Gaza (including 25 children, 15 women and 10 seniors). At least 20 injured in Israel. Hospitals inGaza lack emergency equipment and capacity to treat the injured. Conditions are expected to worsen if the assault continues.
November 14, 22:30: Physicians for Human Rights – Israelcalls on decision makers to refrain from an attack on Gazathat will harm residents of Gaza and Israel
According to information received by Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, in recent hours, seven people have been killed in Gaza, among them five civilians and three children (one of which an 11 month toddler). We have also been informed that 55 people have been injured (among them 10 women and 10 children), including 10 individuals who have been seriously injured. In the past few days, and especially in the past hours, we received a call of distress from medical personnel in Gaza. Hospitals inGaza lack both emergency equipment and capacity to treat the injured. The situation is expected to worsen if the assault continues.
In light of these events, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel calls upon Israeli decision makers to refrain from an attack on Gaza:
“Physicians for Human Rights – Israel are gravely concerned by the outcome of recent military operations, by media reports of preparations for a ground attack in Gaza, and by the devastation expected from another military assault. Many years without any meaningful advancement towards peace, as well as the deepening of the Occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, have led us once again to disaster. Instead of taking bold steps to lift the closure on Gaza and ensuring the freedom of Gaza’s residents, as well as the security of residents of southern Israel, we are facing another war.
Out of concern for the repercussions of another military attack and for the wellbeing of numerous potential victims in both Israel and Gaza, we strongly urge you to refrain from further violence, to desist from an attack on the residents of the Gaza strip, and to avoid another operation like “Cast Lead.” The safety and welfare of both residentsGaza and citizens of Israel and Gaza are in your hands.
A sustainable solution to the current conflict rests first and foremost on the understanding that the freedom and safety of the residents of southern Israel is inextricable linked with that of the residents of Gaza.
The past has taught us that military assaults of this kind lead only to further distress. True concern for fate of residents of southern Israel has little to do with another military attack, whose timing, just before elections, raises concern that the lives of residents ofGaza and southern Israel are of little value and have become an empty tool within a cynical political arena. The state’s responsibility towards its citizens is not only to embark on a military attack, but also to present a real vision for equality, peace and justice. Sadly, in the absence of such a vision, all that is left is an empty show of force.
Violence has failed previously and will fail again, as well as continue to generate hatred and vengeance. As physicians, our first responsibility is to prevent harm. As those who witness first-hand the human costs of this violence, we demand the utmost consideration for the lives, health and human rights of all people. And we do so urgently, before even more individuals are injured or killed. Do not embark on operation that may cause death and destruction in our name.”
New Israeli Military Escalation against the Gaza Strip;
Leader of Hamas’ Armed Wing and His Bodyguard Extra-Judicially Executed and Death Toll in Rises to 13, Including Two Children and a Woman, While 115 Civilian, Including 26 Children and 25 Women Wounded
By Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
November 15,2012
Ref: 124/2012
Since Wednesday evening, 14 November 2012, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated military attacks on the Gaza Strip. They first extra-judicially executed the leader of the Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas) and his bodyguard. This attack was followed by a series of aerial, ground and sea attacks on civilian and paramilitary targets throughout the Gaza Strip. As a result of these attacks, 11 Palestinians, including 4 civilians (two children, a woman and an old man) have been killed and 115 others, including 26 children and 25 women, have been wounded. IOF have escalated the situation in spite of the quiet atmosphere that followed a previous wave of escalation. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is following up developments of this new offensive on the Gaza Strip.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 15:45 on Wednesday, 14 November 2012, an Israeli fighter jet fired a missile at a civilian car, a grey Kia, which was traveling near the Public Service Hospital in Gaza City. The leader of the Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas), Ahmed Saeed Khalil al-Jaabari, 52, and his bodyguard, Mohammed Hamed Subhi al-Hams, 28, were traveling in the area. The car was completely destroyed and al-Jaabari and his bodyguard were killed. A number of nearby houses were also damaged.
Half an hour later, an Israeli warplane fired 3 missiles at a house belonging to Salah Jalal Arafat in al-Zaytoun neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. The house and a neighboring one belonging to Arafat’s brother were destroyed. One of Arafat’s children, 5-year-old Ranana, was killed and another two children and two women were wounded.
At the same time, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a house belonging to Ali Nemer al-Masharawi in al-Zaytoun neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. Two members of the family (a woman and a toddler) were killed: Hiba Aadel Fadel al-Masharawi, 19, and Omar Jihad al-Masharawi, 11 months. Additionally, a child from the same family was wounded.
At approximately 19:30, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a house belonging to Rasheed Abu Shibak in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in the south of Gaza City. The house and nearby houses were heavily damaged and 18 Palestinian civilians were wounded.
Later, IOF launched a series of airstrikes at various areas in Gaza City, wounding 31 Palestinian civilians, including 8 women and 16 children.
In the northern Gaza Strip, IOF have launched 42 airstrikes, most of which have targeted space areas, training sites, populated areas and members of the Palestinian resistance. As a result of these attacks, two members of the Palestinian resistance have been killed while they were traveling on a motorcycle: Essam Mahmoud Ahmed Abu al-Meiza, 19; and Mohammed Ibrahim Hani al-Kaseeh, 18. At the time of writing this press release, at approximately 11:40, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a group of the Palestinian resistance in the southeast of Beit Lahia, killing two members of the group: Rani Mahmoud Hammad, 33; and Khaled Abdul Rahman Abu al-Nasser, 27. A third member was also wounded. Additionally, 49 Palestinian civilians, including 13 children and 11 women, have been wounded, one of them is in a serious condition. Seven of the wounded, including 4 women and a child, were wounded while they were inside their house which was destroyed when a missile landed near it in Beit Lahia. Dozens of houses have been also damaged.
In the central Gaza Strip, IOF launched 12 airstrikes targeting agricultural areas and training sites. As a result of these attacks, an old man, Mahmoud Hamad Mahmoud Abu Sawawin, 61, was killed by shrapnel throughout the body, and his two sons were wounded while they were on their agricultural plot adjacent to a country house that was bombarded by IOF in al-Nussairat refugee camp. Additionally, 3 civilians, including a woman, were injured. In other attacks, 3 civilians, including a woman and her child, were wounded in the east of al-Boreij refugee camp.
In Khan Yunis, IOF have launched 11 airstrikes and two artillery shelling attacks targeting space areas and sites of the Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades. As a result of these attacks, 3 members of the Palestinian resistance were killed in al-Manara neighborhood in the south of the town: Habes Hassan Awadh Mismeh, 29; Wael Haidar Saeed al-Ghalban, 26; and Hisham Mohammed Ahmed al-Ghalban, 26. Additionally, 3 Palestinian civilians, including a woman and two children, were wounded while they were near their houses in al-Qarara village, northeast of Khan Yunis.
In Rafah, IOF have launched 10 airstrikes targeting space areas located near houses. They have also shelled Gaza International Airport, southeast of the town. As a result of these attacks, a woman and a child were wounded while they were inside their houses in the south of the town.
PCHR reiterates condemnation and expresses utmost concern for these crimes, and
1- Warn of deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip in light of this new Israeli military escalation and the tightened closure.
2- Calls upon the international community to act immediately to stop these crimes, and renews the call to the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligation under Article 1 of the Convention to ensure that it is respected at all times, and their responsibilities under Article 146 to pursue perpetrators of serious violations of the Convention, which are determined in Article 147, which lists violations of the Convention amounting to war crimes.