Father demands Red Cross to locate his detained young daughter

Abu Ayman, father of Ghofran Al Zamel, who was kidnapped by the Israeli army four days ago, demanded the International Red Cross and other human rights groups to intervene and ask Israel to reveal the location where Ghofran is being detained and why she was kidnapped.

Ghofran is the youngest daughter of Abu Ayman. He told the Waed Society, which defends the rights of the detainees that the soldiers broke into his home at dawn and forced the family out before declaring that they came to arrest Ghofran. 

For full article, visit http://www.imemc.org/article/61548

Red Crescent: Army fired at our medics as they to save the life of a wounded child”

Mo’tasem Awad, in charge of the International Humanitarian Law department at the Red Crescent stated that Israeli soldiers opened fire at Red Crescent medics while they were trying to approach a wounded child who died of his wounds.

The child, Mohammad Riyadh Nayef, 15, from al Jalazoun refugee camp, was shot and seriously wounded on Tuesday after a round of live ammunition hit him in the chest.

Source: http://www.imemc.org/article/61549

Amnesty International Report: Operation Cast Lead – 22 Days of Death and Destruction

“Soldiers came to the area at night [on 3  January 2009] and at dawn on 4 January many relatives came to my house to stay with us.  We though that if we stayed in our house we would be all right. After a while soldiers came to  the house and my father spoke to them in Hebrew; he told them: ‘These are my children, my  family, there are no terrorists here.’ The soldiers told us to leave our house and go to Wa’el’s  house across the road and we obeyed. We were many relatives, about 100 altogether, many of them children. We stayed there all day and all night. We had hardly any food in the house  and the children were hungry. Nobody could come to the area, not even ambulances. We were scared. The following morning (5 January) three of my cousins and I tried to go out of  the house, to the walled garden to get some tomatoes and some wood to cook something. As  soon as we got out of the door we were shelled. My cousins Muhammad and Hamdi were  killed and Wa’el and I were injured and we retreated back into the house. Then the house was shelled again – at least two shells – from above. Some 25 people were killed and most of
the others were injured. My little girl, Azza, was killed and my wife was injured. My mother Rahma was holding baby Mahmoud (six months old) and she was killed but she shielded the  baby with her body and saved him. My father was killed. Wa’el’s children, a boy and a girl, were both killed. Safa, the wife of my brother Iyad, was killed and Maha, the wife of my brother Hilmi, and their baby son Muhammad were all killed. Why did they shell the house after having put us all in there? We thought we’d all be killed; those of us who could ran out  of the house. Many of us were injured; I was injured in the head and blood was pouring down  my face as I ran. Nearby there were soldiers in the house of the Sawafiri family and they shouted to us to go back and shot at us, but we kept running. When we got to safety we raised the alarm, called the Red Cross to send an ambulance to the house to get the injured, but the army did not let any ambulances approach the area. We knew there were people still alive in the house because we called the mobile numbers and children answered; they were scared, with dead bodies all around them. Some of the injured died in the house waiting to be rescued. Only three days later could the Red Cross go in, but only on foot as the army did not let the ambulances approach; they found some children still alive and many others dead.”

For full report, click here.

American NLG Lawyers Release New Findings that Israel Violated International Law, US Domestic Law in Gaza

The Delegation also uncovered evidence of Israeli soldiers using Palestinians as human shields, acts that constitute war crimes, as well as evidence that the Israeli military targeted civilian infrastructure and grossly misused weapons. Further, Israel denied the wounded access to medical care and routinely fired on emergency medical teams attempting to reach those in need of help. Paramedics and doctors reported to the Delegation that many civilians could have been saved if the Israeli army allowed Palestinian medical services access to the wounded. “On one occasion, when Israeli forces did allow Palestinian medical services to enter an area after four days, soldiers prohibited their ambulances from approaching and paramedics were forced to pile the injured on donkey carts,” reported Reem Salahi, a California-based civil rights attorney. “Medical workers were then forced to pull the carts to their ambulances two kilometers away.”

A residual piece of white phosphorous that ignited and nearly burned the pants of a young man, Khoza’a

The casings of U.S.-supplied weapons

Khaled Abed Rabbo, father of two daughters who were killed at close proximity, Jabaliya

Grafitti Left Behind by Israeli Soldiers in a Palestinian Home in al-Zeitoun

Surviving members of the al-Sammouni family in an interview

Remains of a demolished home in al-Zeitoun, Gaza City

For full press release, visit  http://www.nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry090402-082738

To download full report of the National Lawyers Guild Delegation to Gaza, click the link below:
Onslaught: Israel’s Attack on Gaza and the Rule of Law

Amira Hass: Time to believe Gaza war crimes allegations

“Ashkenazi, like other Israelis, could have read the Red Cross’ protest during the offensive, that the IDF prevented medical teams from reaching wounded Palestinians by shooting at them. He or his aides could have gone to the Web site set up by Israeli human rights organizations, which was full of reports and testimonies. “

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073469.html