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<h1 class="article-title">Israeli Forces Kill 5 Palestinians,
Including 2 Children, in Less than 12 Hours</h1>
<div class="article-subtitledetails">
<span class="article-details">
<span class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part1.03030000.09090807@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> Wednesday October 21, 2015 16:05</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.02070100.08070401@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> by Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - PCHR</span></span>
<br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/73491">http://www.imemc.org/article/73491</a></small></small></b><br>
</div>
<p class="article-subtitle">Orders to Kill</p>
<blockquote class="article-intro">Number of Palestinian Victims
Rises to 47 Killed, Including 12 Children and Woman, in oPt, Since
Early October, Occupied East Jerusalem Isolated and Divided into
Small Cantons.</blockquote>
With the continuing international policy of silence over grave
crimes and violations committed by Israeli forces in the occupied
Palestinian territory (oPt), Israeli forces have continued to
flagrantly commit more crimes and violations against the Palestinian
civilians. <br>
<br>
In less than 12 hours, Israeli forces killed four Palestinian
civilians, including two children, from Hebron and a fifth in the
Gaza Strip. <br>
<br>
This escalation coincides with the Israeli arbitrary and coercive
measures in occupied East Jerusalem and its suburbs to isolate the
Arab neighborhoods in application of a series of the Israeli
Cabinet's decisions. <br>
<br>
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns with the
strongest terms the Israeli forces' disregard for the lives of
Palestinian civilians, shooting-to-kill policy in suspicion of
attempts to stab Israeli soldiers and settlers, and the arbitrary
policies applied in occupied Jerusalem. <br>
<br>
Moreover, PCHR calls upon the international community to take
immediate action and fulfill its legal and moral obligations to
protect the Palestinian civilians in the oPt. PCHR also believes
that the silence of the international community towards these crimes
encourages the Israeli government to continue its policy that
violates the international humanitarian law.<br>
<br>
According to investigations conducted by PCHR regarding the latest
Israeli crimes:<br>
<br>
· At approximately 08:00 on Tuesday, 20 October 2015, dozens of
schoolboys from Beit Awwa village, southwest of Doura, southwest of
Hebron, organized a protest heading to the annexation wall, west of
the said village. <br>
<br>
Due to which, Israeli forces moved into the area through the
security iron gate at the wall. The protestors threw stones at
Israeli soldiers who chased them and fired tear gas canisters until
they reached the Palestinian houses. <br>
<br>
At approximately 10:45, while four Israeli soldiers were present
between the Palestinian houses, Oday Hesham Mohammed al-Masalma (24)
was carrying a bag with olives inside it and walking between the
trees. <br>
<br>
Oday stabbed one of the soldiers in his arm, but the 3 other
soldiers opened fire at him, due to which he fell to the ground and
rolled in a dirt downhill. <br>
<br>
They went after him and shot him dead. Israeli forces denied
paramedics, who arrived in the Palestine Red Crescent Society's
(PRCS) ambulance, access to the wounded for half an hour. Israeli
forces then withdrew, while the corpse was taken to Hebron
Governmental Hospital. <br>
<br>
Following medical examination, it was found out that Oday sustained
several bullet wounds to the left leg causing laceration in the
blood vessels and a bullet wound to the back left side of the head.
According to PCHR's investigations, Israeli forces could have
arrested the aforementioned person after wounding him.<br>
<br>
· At approximately 15:00, Israeli forces stationed on the main road,
opposite to "Gosh Etzion" settlement, south of Bethlehem, opened
fire at a Palestinian civilian vehicle. As a result, the driver
Hamza Mousa al-'Amla (25), from Beit Oula village, west of Hebron,
was killed by several bullets. <br>
<br>
The corpse was taken by an Israeli military ambulance to an unknown
destination. Israeli forces claimed that al-'Amla had run over 2
settlers on the side of the road.<br>
<br>
· In new cold-blooded crime, Israeli forces killed in the evening
two children from al-Ja'bari family in the vicinity of "Kiryat Arba"
settlement, east of Hebron.<br>
<br>
According to PCHR's investigations and statements of eyewitnesses,
at approximately 21:30, dozens of settlers organized a protest
heading from "Kiryat Arba" settlement to the Ibrahimi Mosque in
Hebron. <br>
<br>
Meanwhile, Bashar Nizam Jamil al-Ja'abari (15) and his cousin Hussam
Isma'il Jamil al-Ja'abari (17) were on their way back home in al-Ras
area adjacent to the aforementioned settlement. <br>
<br>
While watching the demonstration, the two children stood beside an
Israeli soldier, who was around the corner of al-Rajabi building
that the Israeli settlers are attempting to seize control over. <br>
<br>
The soldier was leaning against the wall and normally talking to the
two children when the later asked the soldier to help them to cross
via the iron gate, which separates the aforementioned building from
where they live. <br>
<br>
When the two children heading towards the gate were only two meters
away from the soldier, other Israeli soldiers fortified in a
military watchtower in the area opened fire at the children and
killed them immediately. <br>
<br>
The Israeli forces detained the children's corpses and denied the
Palestinian civilians and ambulances access to the area.<br>
<br>
In the Gaza Strip, at approximately 16:00, Israeli forces stationed
along the border fence with Israel, east of al-Bureij refugee camp,
opened fire at a group of Palestinian civilians, who were in an
agricultural field that is around 350 meters away from the
aforementioned fence. <br>
<br>
As a result, Ahmed Sharif al-Sarahi (30) from Deir al-Balah was
killed after being hit with 3 bullets to the chest, while two others
were wounded. <br>
<br>
The Israeli Army Radio reported that the Israeli forces killed a
Palestinian sniper and wounded two others. <br>
<br>
It should be mentioned that the Israeli warplanes had already
targeted al-Sarhi's house in summer 2014 during the Israeli
offensive on the Gaza Strip.<br>
<br>
Thus, the number of the killed Palestinian civilians since early
October has risen to 47 Palestinians, including 12 children and a
woman, in the oPt.<br>
<br>
The escalation of committing such crimes coincides with the Israeli
arbitrary and coercive measures in occupied Jerusalem and its
suburbs. <br>
<br>
Following the Israeli Cabinet's decision to isolate the Arab
neighborhoods in response to the "attacks" in the city, the Israeli
forces started imposing a cordon on the villages and neighborhoods
of occupied East Jerusalem by closing its entrances with cement
cubes and establishing checkpoints in addition to erecting iron
barriers in the streets and main roads. <br>
<br>
All of this is part of the collective punishment policy practiced by
Israeli forces against Jerusalemites. Since the aforementioned
decision was issued, Israeli forces started to apply the policy of
isolating the neighborhoods of the city from each other, and
erecting iron barriers and checkpoints in the streets, especially in
the Old City and its markets. <br>
<br>
They tightly closed the entrances and streets leading to al-Sawana,
al-Jouz Valley, Sour Baher, al-Mukaber Mountiain, al-Eisawiya,
Silwan and Ras al-Amoud villages. Thus, they deliberately disrupt
life in the occupied city, obstruct civilians' movement and increase
their daily suffering.<br>
<br>
PCHR strongly condemns these crimes that prove the increasing number
of killings among Palestinian civilians in the oPt in general and
occupied East Jerusalem in particular. <br>
<br>
Moreover, PCHR stresses that in the above-mentioned cases, Israeli
forces could have used less force against the victims or could have
arrested and tied them if their allegations were true. <br>
<br>
PCHR reiterates its call upon the international community to take
immediate and effective actions to put an end to such crimes and
reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth
Geneva Convention of 1949 to fulfill their obligations under Article
1; i.e., to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all
circumstances, and their obligation under Article 146 to prosecute
persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva
Convention. <br>
<br>
These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the
same Convention and Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions.
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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