22 Palestinians killed in Gaza, West Bank

[Scurrilous]

At least 17 Palestinians killed, 30 wounded as shell barrage fired by IDF hits building in northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun; four of casualties are members of one family, including child and elderly woman. Earlier, five Palestinians, including three gunmen, killed in incident in village of Yamoun, near Jenin

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3325285,00.html

<snip>

"Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip reported that at least 16 people were killed and at least 30 were injured Wednesday morning as a large number of shells hit the northern Strip town of Beit Hanoun. Some of the shells hit a home.

The Palestinians reported that at least four of the casualties were members of one family, including a 9-year-old child and a 73-year-old woman.

At least two of those killed are children. According to the Palestinians' reports, dozens of shells and missiles landed simultaneously in a small and limited area in Beit Hanoun.

Ambulances found it difficult to evacuate the wounded. Residents in the area were called to donate blood for fear of a large number of casualties."


Update:

Palestinians claim 5 children, 4 women among Beit Hanoun fatalities

"Medical sources in Gaza said that among the casualties resulting from IDF shelling in Beit Hanoun are five children and four women.

According to the report, the death toll from the attack was 17, with some 30 injured."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3325303,00.html

[Scurrilous]

1. At least 17 Palestinians die in Gaza IDF shelling

<snip>

"Israel Defense Forces tank shells struck houses in the northern Gaza Strip early on Wednesday, killing at least 17 Palestinians and wounding dozens of others.

Palestinian medical staff reported that most of the dead are women and children."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/784887.html

[Scurrilous]

2. Israeli tank shells 'kill 18 Palestinians in sleep'

<snip>

"Israeli tank shells killed at least 18 people in their sleep when they landed in Gaza early today, witnesses report. Eight children were said to be among the dead.

Khaled Radi, a health ministry official, said of the 18 dead, 13 were from the same family. He said at least 40 more were wounded, all civilians after the attack on a residential neighbourhood north of Beit Hanoun.

Palestinian hospital officials said there were several more injured. According to witnesses, all those killed were women and children.

Four hospitals are treating the wounded across Gaza.

Palestinian security officials said that five tank shells landed in the area within 15 minutes. Most the casualties were caused to a row of homes belonging to members of one family."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1962534.ece

[Englander]

3. Israeli shells kill 18 in Gaza

Staff and agencies
Wednesday November 8, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

Israeli tank shells landed in a residential neighbourhood north of the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun today, killing at least 18 people in their sleep, including eight children, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

Khaled Radi, a health ministry official, said 13 of the dead were from the same family. He said at least 40 more were wounded, all civilians.

Four hospitals across Gaza were treating the wounded, who Palestinian hospital officials also said were all civilians.

Palestinian security officials said five tank shells landed in the area within 15 minutes. Most of the victims were in a row of houses belonging to members of the extended Alathamna family.

The Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, said efforts to form a national unity government had been suspended in the wake of the attack, which he described as an "awful massacre"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1942129,00.html

[Englander]

4. Wounded Gaza teenager mourns 13 family members

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

JABALYA, Gaza, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Palestinian teenager Asma al-Athamna lies in a hospital bed, her body lacerated by shrapnel wounds, her eyes red from weeping.

A few hours earlier, Israeli artillery shells crashed around Athamna's house, dismembering her mother and sister, and killing uncles and cousins.

In all, 13 members of Athamna's extended family were killed in the shelling of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, Palestinian officials said.

"We were asleep and we were awakened by shells hitting the house of my uncle next door. Then the windows to our house were blasted away," said Athamna, 14, her voice shaking.

"We fled the house only to be hunted outside. The shells killed my mother and sister and wounded all my siblings."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08885846.htm

[Scurrilous]

5. Europe: Gaza shelling shocking

EU's external relations chief says, 'Killing so many civilians in Gaza, including many children, is a profoundly shocking event.' Italy's foreign minister brands killing a 'massacre,' calls for urgent international initiative to stop violence. Khaled Mashaal: We'll respond with deeds, not words

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3325589,00.html

<snip>

"Israel drew fire from the European Union on Wednesday for the deaths of 18 civilians in its shelling of a northern Gaza town, with the EU's external relations chief saying the attack was "profoundly shocking."

"The killing this morning of so many civilians in Gaza, including many children, is a profoundly shocking event. Israel has a right to defend itself, but not at the price of the lives of the innocent," Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.

"It is very important for all parties to exercise utmost restraint and limit themselves to actions which are proportionate and in accordance with international humanitarian law," she added."

<snip>

"Italy's foreign minister branded the killing of civilians by Israeli artillery shells a "massacre" and called for an urgent international initiative to stop the violence.

"This morning 18 people, women and children, were massacred ... an escalation of violence I think is unacceptable," Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema told reporters."

[Scurrilous]

6. Erekat: Beit Hanoun attack war crime

Palestinian, Israeli experts on international law discuss international, legal perspectives of Beit Hanoun incident Wednesday morning

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3325641,00.html

<snip>

"Former Palestinian foreign minister Dr. Saeb Erekat, an expert in international politics and law, claimed that the Wednesday morning attack in Beit Hanoun that left 18 Palestinians dead is an Israeli war crime.

Dr. Nitza Shapira-Libai, an international law expert and former chairperson of Amnesty International's Israeli chapter, conceded that it is possible that Israel violated international law.

Dr. Erekat, who currently resides in the West Bank, told Ynet of his impressions from Wednesday morning: "What Israel did is a war crime against the civilian population in Gaza," he declared.

"Women and children were killed in their sleep. In terms of international law, it is fitting to impose the convention from 1948."

[Tom Joad]

7. Israeli shelling kills 18 in Gaza

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6127250.stm
Israeli shelling kills 18 in Gaza

At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and 40 wounded by Israeli tank fire in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, Palestinian sources have said.

Palestinian officials said a barrage of tank shells hit civilian homes, and women and children were among the dead.

Israel has expressed regret for the civilian deaths and says it is investigating the incident.

Palestinian leaders have called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to force Israel to stop military raids.

Later on Wednesday, at least one Palestinian was killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City, Palestinian security and medical source said.
_____________________________________

Press Release

Palestinian human rights NGOs condemn Beit Hanoun Massacre; call for international investigation

The Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) have committed an appalling act of mass murder in the town of Beit Hanoun today, one day after they redeployed around it. At dawn, the IOF fired eleven artillery shells on six homes in the town killing 18 civilians; seven of whom are children and six of whom are women. 53 others were wounded; of whom 25 are children and 12 are women. With this, the number of Palestinians who have been killed since the commencement of the IOF operation in Beit hanoun on 1 November 2006 has reached 77.

Field reports by the undersigned organizations indicate that at app. 5.30am today, Wednesday 8 November 2006, IOF fired eleven artillery shells, striking six houses while their inhabitants were sleeping. The houses were identified as owned by Mas'oud, Sa'ad, Akram, Hussein and Ashraf Al Athamneh; all five brothers, Abdul-Hadi and Jamal Al Kafarneh; also two brothers, and Saqer Udwan. All of the houses were located in Hamad Street in Beit Hanoun. It is also worth mentioning that sixteen of the victims are from one family; the Al Athamneh family.

Palestinian human rights organizations strongly condemn this outrageous crime and stress that it is but another example of the continued excessive use of force and the targeting of civilians and civilian objects that is carried out by IOF. Moreover, the human rights organizations stress that this brutality is directed without the observance of the principles of discrimination, proportionality or military necessity. This crime again illustrates the extent to which the IOF disregards the prohibition by international humanitarian law (IHL) of targeting civilians and civilian objects and the obligation to protect them.

The undersigned organizations emphasize that the state of silence on the part of the international community, when such crimes have occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in the past, has only encouraged the IOF to show even more disregard to its obligations as enshrined in IHL and civilian life, as manifested in this crime.
The undersigned organizations also emphasize that the IOF's conduct in Beit Hanoun today constitutes a war crime according to the provisions of IHL and, as such, warns of Israeli attempts to manipulate the international community and public to avoid accountability. Hence, the undersigned organizations call on:

The Un Security Council to convene an emergency session to look into the situation in OPT, and dispatch an investigation commission on the IOF crimes since the start of its military operations in Beit Hanoun;
The UN General Assembly to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities and take effective action to ensure protection for the Palestinian people in OPT;
The Human Rights Council to dispatch a team to inspect this massacre and the breaches by IOF of human rights and IHL; to dispatch the relevant special procedures to the OPT to investigate the recent human rights violations without delay;
The international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to condemn this crime and to undertake effective action to end the IOF's violations of Palestinian civilians' human rights; to provide effective protection for this population; and to call for an emergency meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Convention to look into the mechanisms of full implementation of the Convention in OPT;
The United Nations' High Commissioner for Human Rights to end its silence and take actions towards ending the gross violations of human rights in OPT;
International human rights organizations to condemn this crime, investigate it fully, and also call upon the international community to fulfill its obligations

END


BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights
Jerusalem Legal Aid Center (JLAC)
Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling
Insan Center
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
Defense Children International-Palestine
Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens Rights
Al Haq: Law in the Service of Man
Al Dameer Association for Human Rights
Palestinian Center for Human Rights

[Tom Joad]

8. We must work now to tell our newly-elected Congress to hold Israel

accountable.
The United States cannot continually arm a State that is attacking civilians.

[breakaleg]

9. Waiting anxiously to see if anything comes of this.

[Tom Joad]

10. Sure something will come of this.... The IDF will exonerate itself.

And it was preventative... these children will never grow up to a) be subject to domestic violence. b) ever think bad thoughts about Israel. (can't do that if your dead).

okay, so Israel created more hatred for itself among the living. But it can take care of that too! It has a mighty army! It will kill, and then kill some more, and kill more...

This tragic terror attack against the people of Gaza would never had happened if Israel had truly ended control of Gaza and actually ended the occupation of the West Bank, instead of assuring its citizens, and Palestinians, and the world, that it was staying in the West Bank forever (except a few settlements they planned to evacuate).

Instead, Israel seems intent to forever use terror to attempt to keep its stranglehold on Gaza, and its settlements in the West Bank.

[breakaleg]

11. Has anyone looked at the CNN coverage of this?

It's interesting to read in that they provide so few details that what comes across is a very different picture than that of all of the other news organizations.

They reference the number of casualties, specify the number of civilians, but no mention that they were sleeping in their homes when it happened, nor what happened. But they simply say it occurred during a military operation on norther Gaza.

It's not like they lied, but they gave the facts in such a way as to minimize the brutality of it. And this is likely what most of Americans will read, assuming they spot the one line on the front page which simply says "Palestinians say Israeli tanks kill 19 in Gaza" as if they say it, but it's no necessarily proven.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/08/israel.gaza/index.html