human rights and beit hanoun residents

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Residents of Beit Hanoun turned out to see Arbour as
she toured the town but were not hopeful her visit
would achieve any results.





By Nidal al-Mughrabi

Beit Hanoiun, Gaza (Reuters) - A senior United Nations
official described Gaza as suffering "massive" human
rights violations during a visit to the territory on
Monday and urged all sides to be bold in trying to end
the violence.

"The violation of human rights I think in this
territory is massive," Louise Arbour, the U.N. high
commissioner for human rights, told reporters during a
visit to Beit Hanoun, a town the Israeli army shelled
earlier this month, killing 19 civilians.

"The call for protection has to be answered. We cannot
continue to see civilians, who are not the authors of
their own misfortune, suffer to the extent of what I
see."

Arbour, on a five-day trip to the region, spent time
at the house of a family who had lost more than a
dozen members in a shelling on Nov. 8, when Israel
says a mistake led to the barrage of artillery shells
hitting the neighbourhood.

Her visit, the first she has made to the region since
becoming commissioner, comes days after the U.N.
General Assembly approved a resolution that "deplored"
Israel's shelling of Gaza and called for an immediate
cessation of violence.

Asked what she planned to do about the rights
violations, Arbour said: "I will help to keep the
conscience of the many who care about what happens in
this part of the world alive.

"I will speak to the Palestinian Authority about their
responsibility to enforce the law, to create an
environment in which people can seek protection of the
law and, of course, I will also speak to the Israeli
authority.

"We need to collectively call on leaders, political,
military and militia leaders, to have the courage to
break the cycle of violence to ensure the well-being
of civilians."

More than 350 Palestinians, almost half of them
civilians according to Palestinian doctors and human
rights workers, have been killed since Israel launched
an offensive in Gaza in late June, following the
kidnapping of an Israeli soldier.

The offensive was designed not only to try to trace
the captured soldier, who was seized by militants
including members of the governing Palestinian faction
Hamas, but also to stop militants firing rockets into
Israeli territory from Gaza.

Israeli authorities say militants have fired more than
300 of the homemade rockets into southern Israel this
year, targeting towns like Sderot, just across the
frontier from Gaza.

Last week, a woman resident of Sderot was killed, the
first death from a rocket attack since July 2005.
Others have been wounded and scores are treated each
week for shock.

Residents of Beit Hanoun turned out to see Arbour as
she toured the town, where many buildings are scarred
by shrapnel, but were not hopeful her visit would
achieve any results.

"It will not do anything," said Majdi al-Athamna, 37,
who lost his son and three brothers in the shelling.

"This visit will not achieve anything unless the world
pressures Israel to engage in a real peace process
because as Palestinians we are paying the price of the
false peace."

Palestinian NGOS handed letter to the UN High Commissioner For Human Rights

20|11|2006

Her Excellancy
Ms. Louise Arbour,,,,
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights


With respect and appreciation:


The Union of Palestinian Non-governmental Organizations would like to express its sincere welcome for your visit to the Occupied Palestinian territories which corresponds with more escalations and assaults by the Israeli Occupation Forces against civilian people and objects.

Your visit is extremely essential to us as we were anticipating it for a long period of time and in fact demanded it frequently particularly during times of the continuation of Israeli Forces grave violations of international human rights and all international conventions. Your visit comes in times the Human Rights Council endorsed sending a fact-finding mission to the Occupied Territories to investigate the massacre of Beit Hanoun that was committed by the Israeli Occupation Forces, which was not the first in the bloody history of Israeli Occupation.

We call upon you today to call for international protection for Palestinian people and to pressure the Occupation of Israel to halt its crimes and assaults on Palestinians, and to work diligently to impose sanctions on the Israeli Occupation Forces as well as follow the Israeli war crime perpetrators and bring them before justice.

Additionally, we call upon you to lift the imposed siege and the unfair international sanctions imposed on the Palestinian people, who are suffering tremendously as a result of aggravation in their economical, social, health, and humanitarian conditions as a result of the unprecedented increase in unemployment and poverty.

Moreover, we call upon you to genuinely pressure the Israeli Occupation government to release the confiscated tax revenue money of Palestinians as well as lifting the economical siege imposed by the occupation authorities on the whole OPT.


We would like to indicate that our people in the West Bank are suffering tremendously particularly with the continuation of building the discrimination and apartheid wall and blockade and confiscation of land as well as enlargement of settlements and other grave violations that the Israeli Occupation Forces commit. For this, we need an immediate and genuine intervention to rescue the international law and human rights conventions, particularly the conventions that call for protection of Palestinian civilians.

We also appeal to you to work on releasing all Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Occupation jails, especially political leaders, Ministers, Legislative Council members, and children & women.

We would like to appeal to you to send special UN Rapourtuers to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in order to witness first hand the Israeli Occupation Forces blatant violations committed against all Palestinian people sectors.

We also call upon you for more actions in terms deployment of International human rights observers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including Jerusalem, similar to what is happening in many areas of the world such as Darfour in Sudan.

We call upon you to activate the role of the Human Rights High Commissioners Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as we view that it is vital to develop its programs and provide it with more experiences and resources that are appropriate to the mission of the High Commissioner Office for the protection of human rights. Such resources are also vital for the duties that we expect from the High Commissioner Office to perform in the OPT.

We hope that your visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories will be the first of visits that will be inciting hope for many victims of war crimes, committed by the Israeli occupation Forces against our besieged people living in the biggest prison of the world.

We also would like to mention that we look forward for more roles of the OHCHR in our Arab region, particularly in Lebanon and Iraq who are confronting tyrant occupations.

Lastly, we would like to welcome you and we are full of hope and trust that you will do your utmost efforts to support the fair rights of our Palestinian people who are looking for their freedom and independence.

Please accept our sincere appreciation and gratitude


Union of Palestinian Non-Governmental Network

those are the days my freind ....in Gaza

Dear brothers, sisters, friends, comrades, all of you who follow my blog,

Thanks for your interest in us here in Palestine, while the rest of the world is either silent, cowering to avoid the truth, totally brainwashed by the mainstream media that supports American and Israeli policies in the Middle East, or minding their mutual interests with the USA. Please let us all together work to spread the truth about what is happening in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and work hard for a world that enjoys a peace based on justice.

I do apologize for not writing regularly as I used to do. I am very busy with relief efforts and fieldwork. Many of the injured were received into Al- Awda Hospital, which puts extra pressure on all health workers, including myself. It is not an easy feeling to expect that you may lose some of your colleagues while on emergency health rescue missions, or to think of the casualties waiting to cross a military checkpoint, while bleeding and in desperate need for surgical intervention. Some people died while waiting for a permit to pass through those checkpoints.

Whenever I am at Al-Awda Hospital for my field support and needs assessment visits, I meet hospital staff that have lost their relatives, or their homes have been demolished, or they have experienced different sorts of traumas. I also meet many patients and their families. The most heartbreaking is to see children that have been seriously injured. But it is also heavy to listen to the ER doctors tell stories about the different sorts of injuries they receive: mutilated bodies, burn victims, etc.

It is not safe to drive my car the short distance from Gaza to Jabalia and Beit Hanoun. While driving I can clearly see the army tanks and hear helicopters and drones in the sky.

On, Monday 20th of November, I met Mrs. Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights, during her visit to Israel and the OPT. She held a meeting with representatives of different Palestinian civil society organizations and public figures where I explained the frank violations of health human rights by the Israeli army. We all strongly asked for international protection following the recent Beit Hanoun masacare and I condemned the American veto that makes the international community very weak in their efforts to refuse injustice and human rights violations in Palestine. The Palestinian people are devastated, abandoned and losing faith in the international community.

The Israeli occupying forces have continued their attack against Gaza, especially in the north of Gaza. First there was the siege and military operation in Beit Hanoun, 2nd –8th of November. And then two days later, the brutal attack against a residential area inside the village, where at least 20 people from one family where killed while in their beds in the early hours of the morning.

Last night, 21st of November, there were many helicopters in the sky above Gaza City. I live nearby the beach and I could clearly hear and see the helicopters. I felt very uneasy, knowing that they will soon target somebody, somewhere in Gaza City. Then I heard the sirens of ambulances. They targeted an area east of the city, killing 2 people including a 70-year-old woman.

This morning, 22nd of November, at 11.30 am the Israeli military went back to Beit Hanoun. Four schoolboys were injured at the new entrance into the village. There are snipers on top of the roofs of some buildings only 300 meters to the east of the hospital. Thirteen casualties were brought into the ER with serious injuries from the snipers’ bullets. I am not in the hospital but I was told this by my colleagues inside the hospital.

I can hear the sirens of the ambulances carrying more injured to Al-Shifa hospital inside Gaza City. The situation is deteriorating.

I shall stop now. But before I stop, I want to tell you that in November, 105 people were killed in Gaza including 35 children and 18 women. Another 350 were injured, many with critical injuries that will cause permanent disabilities.

it is 9.30 pm wed.
i can hear heavy artillary shelling , it is coming from the north of the town . my freind mahmoud telephoned from jabalia to tell me , there are Israeli snipers on top of their next door neiboughers roof ,

This time I promise to keep writing.

With love and solidarity,
Mona

Amnesty International Delegate Visits Scene of Gaza killings

Wednesday November 08, 2006
Amnesty International Delegate Visits Scene of Gaza
Killings



Those killed, most of whom were asleep in their beds
when their homes were struck by shells fired by
Israeli forces, included eight children.



(Press release, 11/08/2006) - The killing this morning
of 18 civilians in the Palestinian town of Beit
Hanoun, victims of Israeli shelling, was an appalling
act, Amnesty International said today. The
organization called for an immediate, independent
investigation and for those responsible to be held
accountable. It said previous Israeli investigations,
such as that carried out into the killings of a
Palestinian family on a beach in the Gaza Strip last
June, had been seriously inadequate and failed to meet
international standards for such investigations, which
must be independent, impartial and thorough.

Those killed, most of whom were asleep in their beds
when their homes were struck by shells fired by
Israeli forces, included eight children. An Amnesty
International delegate who visited the scene of the
killings shortly after the attack was told that 15 of
the victims were killed in the first strike and that
three others were killed by a second shell as they
raced to help the dead and injured.

“This terrible act follows a renewed upsurge in
killings of Palestinians since Israel forces launched
their latest military operation into the Gaza Strip on
2 November,“ said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty
International’s Middle East and North Africa
programme. “Israeli actions during this entire
operation have been marked by nothing less than
reckless disregard for the lives of Palestinian
civilians, over 20 of whom had been killed even before
this morning’s tragedy.”

In all, before today’s deaths, more than 53
Palestinians were killed during the Israeli military
siege of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, and
many more were wounded. Two ambulance workers were
among the civilians killed. Dubbed “Autumn clouds”by
the Israeli army, the operation began on 2 November
and continued until 7 November when Israeli forces
redeployed outside the town. Israeli authorities said
they mounted the operation in an attempt to prevent
Palestinian armed groups firing home-made Qassem
rockets at Israeli towns and villages near to the Gaza
Strip. Most of the dead were killed in Beit Hanoun,
which was kept under siege throughout the six days,
but others were killed as a result of Israeli military
strikes in the surrounding area.

Amnesty International condemns all attacks on unarmed
civilians and is calling on the Israeli authorities to
establish independent investigations into every
incident in which Palestinian civilians were killed or
injured by Israeli forces, and to bring to justice
those responsible for human rights violations.

As Israeli forces began their siege of Beit Hanoun,
one senior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Yarom, said
that troops had been instructed to avoid causing
civilian casualties. Four days into the operation, in
face of a rising toll of deaths and injuries among
Palestinian civilians, Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert declared: “Those Palestinians who have been
wounded were mostly armed, but, to our regret, they
are using innocent people as human shields, resulting
in the injury of uninvolved civilians as well”.

The information gathered by Amnesty International
delegates currently in the Gaza Strip contradicts
this, however, and indicates that at least half of
those killed, including at least two women and several
children, were unarmed bystanders not involved in the
confrontations. The pattern is the same for those
injured as a result of Israeli force air strikes and
artillery shelling.

Those killed or injured as a result of Israeli attacks
include:

Ramzi al-Ashrafi, 16, was killed and seven other
children were injured on the morning of 6 November
when an Israeli shell exploded close by the bus on
which they were travelling to school along a busy road
between Beit Lahia and Jabalya, north of Gaza City.
Najwa Khleif, a 20-year-old teacher who was also in
the bus, sustained severe brain injuries. Doctors
treating her in the intensive care unit of Gaza City’s
main hospital told Amnesty International that she was
in critical condition. The bus was hit apparently in a
failed strike by Israeli forces on a vehicle believed
to belong to a Palestinian armed group. However, the
attack was carried out at a busy intersection during
the morning rush hour, when it could be expected that
the streets would be busy with adults and children
making their way to work and school. The shell which
killed Ramzi al-Ashrafi and injured others in the
school bus, fell near a kindergarten although,
fortunately, without causing further deaths or
injuries there.

Ala’ Mansour al-Khdeir, an 11-year-old girl, one of
two children who were wounded by Israeli fire on 4
November when they were returning home from a morning
at school in Beit Lahia. She was struck by a bullet
which entered the left side of her head and travelled
to the left side of her neck, where it remains lodged,
and remains seriously ill. Her mother told Amnesty
International that Ala’was near home in the Sayafa
area of north-west Gaza, an area where there has been
frequent Israeli army shelling in recent days, when
she was wounded. The other child, a boy, was also
seriously injured.

Ibtisam Masoud, 44, was killed and ten other women,
including Tahrir Shahin, a 37-year-old mother of
seven, were injured by Israeli fire during a women’s
demonstration on the morning of 3 November at the
entrance of Beit Hanoun. Tahrir Shahin, whose leg had
to be amputated, told Amnesty International from her
hospital bed in Gaza city that she and other women
were unarmed and standing less than 100 meters from
the Israeli tanks which fired at them: “Ours was a
peaceful demonstration, we were all women, there were
no men, no militants, no weapons. We were just women
standing in front of tanks. We did not think the
Israeli soldiers would shoot us, but they fired
indiscriminately”.

Heba Rajab, 20, a volunteer with the Palestinian
Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, and
Sou’ad Abu Najem, 43, a mother of eight, both
sustained serious gunshot wounds to their legs and
hands in the same incident. They said they had seen
Israeli soldiers taking aim at the women demonstrators
from the tops of their tanks. The women were
demonstrating in response to a call by a Hamas party
member of the Palestinian parliament to help break the
siege by Israeli forces of a mosque in which members
of Palestinian armed groups were reported to be
sheltering, surrounded by Israeli forces. However, the
women were shot before they could approach the mosque.

Ahmad al-Madhoun, 42, and Mustapha Habib, 26, both
volunteer emergency ambulance workers with the
Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and a third
man who was assisting them, were killed in an Israeli
air strike on the evening of 3 November as they were
evacuating the body of a man killed in an earlier air
strike. Iyad Yousef Abu al-Ful, the ambulance driver
accompanying them, told Amnesty International: “Ahmad
and Mustapha were about 20 meters from the ambulance
and were about to load the body of a dead man on the
stretcher; I had just got out of the ambulance and was
beginning to move towards them when a missile struck
at the spot where they were. I got back into the
ambulance and called for help. I cannot get out of my
mind the sight of my colleagues killed while they were
doing their duty”. The medical rescue team was in an
open field near Beit Lahia. It was dark but the
ambulance should have been clearly visible from the
emergency light on its roof. The other victim had
directed the ambulance crew to the body of his friend,
who had been killed earlier in unclear circumstances.

Palestinian ambulances have been frequently attacked
and dozens have been hit by Israeli strikes in recent
years. During the siege of Beit Hanoun, emergency
rescue workers faced increased obstacles and delays in
carrying out their duties due to the virtually
continuous curfew imposed by Israeli forces. Israeli
tanks controlled the access to Beit Hanoun hospital
and delayed the passage of ambulances in and out of
the hospital, as well as into and out of the town.

Zahir Mustapha Shabat, 32, was shot and seriously
injured and his cousin, Mazen Shabat, was killed by
Israeli soldiers in the evening of 4 November when
they were returning home after they had both been
released from three days’ detention by the Israeli
army. He told Amnesty International from his hospital
bed, shortly after he was moved from the intensive
care unit: "After three days in detention the soldiers
released us and gave us a paper, which they said we
could show if we got stopped by other soldiers on our
way home, about 1.5 to 2 km from the place where we
were detained. They told us that they had coordinated
with the tanks in the area and that we would have safe
passage home but when we got about 150 meters from my
house soldiers jumped out of the house of one of my
relatives and fired on me and my cousin, Mazen,
Shabat. Mazen was killed and I was seriously injured
in the abdomen and back."

-For interviews, please contact Amnesty
International's researcher Donatella Rovera in Gaza on
+970 599 446 703 or +44 7771 796 091, or Amnesty
International's Middle East and North Africa press
officer Nicole Choueiry on +44 7831 640 170

In Beit Hanoun Again

Israeli artillery bombardment of Beit Hanoun kills at
least 20,
injures over 35, many are women and children
Date: 08 / 11 / 2006 Time: 09:28


A Palestinian father despairs after his
whole family was killed in Beit Hanoun
(MaanImages)
Gaza - Ma'an - Israel has renewed its assault on the
Gaza Strip, killing at least 20 Palestinians on
Wednesday morning.

Palestinian medical sources reported that dozens of
Palestinian citizens had been killed or injured in an
Israeli artillery bombardment of Beit Hanoun in the
north of Gaza Strip. A large number of women and
children were also injured in the shelling.

The sources said the preliminary number of the
citizens killed is 18, but rising. In addition, more
than 35 were injured. Many of the dead arrived at the
hospital fragmented in pieces.

The bombing targeted the house of two brothers, Sa'ed
and Sa'di Al-'Athamneh from Al-Kafarneh district in
the town of Beit Hanoun.

Eleven members of the Al-'Athamneh family were killed,
including a one-year old girl. The killed are:

Ne'meh Al-'Athamneh
Mohammed Al-'Athamneh
Mahmoud Al-'Athamneh
Mahdi Al-'Athamneh
Sa'ed Al-'Athamneh
Mohammed Al-'Athamneh
Fatmeh Al-'Athamneh
Nihad Al-'Athamneh
Arafat Al-'Athamneh
Dima Al-'Athamneh (1 year old girl)
Another young girl, Ala' Al-'Athamneh

The medical services are identifying the rest of the
dead but it is proving difficult to identify them due
to their fragmented bodies and the critical condition
in which they arrived at the Kamal 'Udwan Hospital in
Beit Lahiya. In Kamal 'Udwan Hospital, there are 12
dead and in Kamal Naser Hospital there are 4 dead. The
number of people killed is raising by the minute.

Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli artillery bombed
the houses while the residents were sleeping,
resulting in the large number of casualties.
Palestinians are comparing this massacre to the Qana
massacre by the Israeli army in south Lebanon 3 months
ago.

The government spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, appealed to the
international community on the Al-Jazeera satellite
channel to mobilize and stop Israel carrying out such
massacres against unarmed Palestinians.

Reports are also coming in that armed Palestinians are
firing at the European Union building in Gaza City.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense
minister Amir Peretz have expressed their "regret"
over the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Beit
Hanoun. The two men also said that they will offer the
Palestinian Authority urgent humanitarian assistance
and immediate medical care for the wounded.

Peretz also ordered an urgent investigation into the
bombardment and a halt to artillery fire at the Gaza
Strip until completion of the inquiry into the
circumstances.



Dr. Haidar Eid
Ph.D English Literature

another attack against Beit Hanoun Vilage

this morning 6.30 am , army tanks on the east of the vilage fired missiles against some homes of Beit Hanoun vILAGHE ,the outcome was disasterous , 11, members opf one family were killed , total death toll is 22 , and may increase in the next hoyurs , the injuries are serious and very critical , including many women and children


here in Palestine we have the choice of dying or continuing to refuse injustice , and struggle to reach our national inaleinable goals

the international community knows verwell what is the Geneva fourth covintion , no need to remind you of civilians protection in war and peace time

Israel new geneva convintion intrepretation is kill more and more of civilians


mona
alawda hospital -jabalia

photos from Beit hanoun AlAwda Hospital

stories from north of Gaza

Sunday, 5 November 2006

I am really worried about the situation in the north of Gaza. After a quick assessment of the situation and being personally unable to enter the village, I decided to send the baby milk with the UN. I am pleased to let you know that on the 5th day of the siege, the MECA office in Gaza managed to send 300 packets of baby milk to Beit Hanoun with the United Nations Relief Work Agency (UNRWA) team. They managed to get permission to enter the village with a convoy. It was not easy to coordinate this entry into the village, and took a lot of time. The curfew was lifted for 2 hours, so the convoy had to arrive to the village during that time.

I am sending some more baby milk with the World Food Program (WFP) team tomorrow. And I also coordinated for medications and medical supplies to be provided for patients with chronic diseases via the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC).

People are starving; they have no water or electricity or telecommunications. Vast areas of fertile productive land have been destroyed. This incursion came on top of the collapsed economic situation for all Palestinians inside Gaza. Al-Awda Hospital’s teams can reach the village outskirts where it is also very dangerous, but medical rescue teams are not allowed inside the village without a very high level of coordination. Nobody is allowed in or out of the village.

MECA office gave a blanket for each of the injured women who were inside the Al-Awda Hospital, who were injured during the peaceful demonstration aimed to break the siege and free the men inside the mosque. I visited the women inside the hospital the same day just straightaway after the demonstration.

A lot of humanitarian relief is needed at the moment and families need practical support.

children on their way to school in north Gaza Gaza

Diaries of the attack against northern Gaza

Sunday: 4th th of nov
Stories from Beit Hanoun
With the help of the United Nations Relief Work Agency (UNRWA), I managed to send 400 packs of baby formula from the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) to children in Beit Hanoun. I was told that there is great need for this milk. It was difficult to coordinate this delivery since the roads into Beit Hanoun are all controlled by the Israeli military and they only lift the curfew imposed on the village for short periods of time.

The incursion is putting more stress on Gaza’s hospitals and Palestinian medics are working under fire. Two men who were part of a medical rescue team were killed today and another medical staff from Al-Awda hospital was injured while on duty.

tuesday : 8am6th of november
Drive to the Hospital
The military operation is now expanding to the north east of Gaza. In the early hours of the morning many missiles were fired on the north and east of Gaza, hitting many civilians.

On my way to Al-Awda hospital going along Salah Eddin Street, east of Gaza city, I could clearly see army tanks and a group of Palestinian resistance men. The main road was deserted.

When I arrived the hospital, I decided that next time I would take the road through Jabalia Camp. But no one road is safer than another. My colleagues described a scene of small 3 to 5 year-old age kids who were transported to the hospital in their kindergarten bus. Their teacher, Samiha Khulif (age 26), was seriously injured while getting out of the bus by an Israeli missile launched at a target. I do not know what the target was but the teacher and nine other passersby were seriously injured and two teenagers were killed as they walked pas the bus on their way to school. The small children were all crying when they reached Al-Awda; they were terrified and trembling. The hospital staff tried to comfort them. It was an intense moment and some of my colleagues burst into tears after seeing these kids.

Inside the Hospital: Obs and Gyn. Department

Since the siege and the military operation has started in Beit Hanoun village, nine women from the village arrived at the hospital to give birth. They had to wait several hours at the checkpoint to get a permit to leave for the hospital for delivery. These women gave birth, but now cannot get back to their homes. Some stayed at the hospital, others were taken to stay with families that live in the same neighborhood as the hospital. I met one woman who gave birth by Cesarian Section. She was unable to talk. She had a beautiful baby and her mother was next to her in tears, worried about the rest of the family who are trapped in the village.

MECA offered help for the women. We gave out food, blankets, baby clothing and pampers which the hospital’s PR brought it from Jabalia.

USA Shrapnel
I have seen some of the shrapnel that was recovered from yesterday’s injuries and they are all clearly marked with “USA.” The shrapnel pieces seem unusual; our surgeons did not come across this before but we do not have the time and facilities to investigate. And any way of killing civilians is illegal, whether with knives or internationally banned weapons.

from Gaza with love
Dr. Mona ElFarra

injured dying while waiting apermit to the hospital in north of Gaza

Gaza: Beit Hanoun Siege Diary

Dr. Mona Elfarra

Wednesday 1 November 1.30 am
Khalil Hamad died waiting for a permit to go to the hospital!!!

Israeli occupying forces launched a massive attack against northern
Gaza, focused on Beit Hanoun village. At the start of this assault, the
village
was placed under strict siege. Nobody was allowed in or out of Beit Hanoun.

At AlAwda hospital where 45 injured were admitted for treatment, and 3
dead bodies received, I was told by our Emergency Room staff that one of
these dead could have been saved easily.

While bleeding and suffering from multiple injuries Mr. Khalil Hamad had
to wait for special
arrangements and an army permit to transfer him via the Red Cross
from outside the village to the nearest hospital (AlAwda) 5 minutes away from
the scene. Mr. Hamad bled to death before he arrived at our hospital.

A few
minutes means a lot in the ER room in such cases, not to mention that he
was left to die on purpose.

Speaking of war crimes and Geneva conventions, human rights violations
etc. etc., this frank violation of human
rights is the normal attitude and practice of the Israeli army in
Palestine.


Thursday 2 November

The ambulances were not allowed to enter the village, but they managed to
evacuate a few casualities on the outskirts while
working under heavy fire. Some cases arrived at the hospital where they
were operated upon, others were referred to the Gaza Central Hospital
Ashifa.

I was told by the surgeons that the injuries were all serious – to the
neck, abdomen, head, and lower extremities – and were caused by large-sized
bullets.


Friday 3 November 10 am

Women demonstrating and determined to break the siege
ER at AlAwda hospital

The 14 beds in ER were not sufficient to receive the injured.
A protest demonstration by the village women determined to
break the siege and free their men who were confined by the army inside one
of the village mosques. The women protested and managed to give free
passage to the men inside the mosque. At least 15 injured women
were received in the AlAwda Hospital, but 2 were shot dead by the Israeli
army.

This morning I visited some of the women inside the hospital. They were
still in
a state of shock, and deserve love, respect and quality medical care.

This is the Palestinian woman. She has always been an active part of
resisting the
occupation, and will continue to pay the price of striving towards freedom.

Death toll 25
Injured 115, many are women and children under 16

The operation is continuing and may extend to different areas. The streets
of Gaza are full of demonstrators.

in solidarity

Mona Elfarra

food aid distribution in Gaza

i received a question by (the road less travelled) asking for my comment regarding the food distribution in Gaza, here is my comment and iam sorry for the delay , i was highly distressed by the situation and focussed on practrical support for my community , and that drained alot of my time and efforts , beside the electricity inconvenience and lastly my email was not functioning for 10 days , proplem with the server , i do appologise again .

there are many aid orgs works in Gaza both local and international ,
the local and international are working with its high capacity ,via different organisations eg red crescent society , union of health work committees , pader , asalah org,islamic releif ,middle east council of churches dove and dolphin , middleast children allience(MECA), the Unrwa , World Food Programme and some more , those orgs have high level of coordination i mean the highest possible in Gaza under the current circamstances ,
there are big obstacles that faces those orgs ,the most important are the borders closure and lack of good storing circumstances on the borders, this affects both the food as well as medications ,and makes the food supplies irregular , specialy when we are talking about apopulation of 1.6million 70%of it depend on aid at the moment.
the civil society orgs are working continously to meet the population needs , and despite the seige and non stop military actions against palestinian people , social solidarity proved to be strong way of resisting occupation and sanctions , international solidarity is another way of resisting occupation.

in solidarity

while the world is silent

Gaza: While the world is silent
>
> Mona Elfarra
>
> This is happening in the north of Gaza, while the world is silent. Break
> the silence and speak for the speechless.
>
> Gaza 5pm Thursday 2 November 2006
>
> During its large scale military operation against Gaza, the Israeli
> occupying army today continued its attack on Beit Hanoun village in the
> north of the Gaza strip. Twelve people were killed and at least 75
> injured, many seriously. All casualities received at Al Awda hospital
> emergency room were seriously injured, with gunshot wounds to the chest,
> abdomen and head.
>
> Movement of ambulances in and outside the village is greatly restricted.
> Some patients needing renal dialysis cannot leave home for treatment, in
> fact many different types of patients are confined to their homes. The
> only hospital inside Beit Hanoun is surrounded by dozens of army tanks and
> military vehicles. With continous shelling and shooting, any moving body
> would be shot at once.
>
> All men over 16 wee asked to gather inside one of the village schools. As
> I write, the local radio station has just announced the death of one of
> the women trying to stop the army actions against her family.
>
> As medical teams we are working under great pressure. The situation has
> been very bad and now it is deteriorating daily, with sanctions against
> the Palestinian Authority, long periods of border closure, military
> assualts...
>
> We were hoping that negotiations for the release of the captured Israeli
> soldier would bring some hope for improvement of our situation, but it
> seems that Israel is pressing ahead with its preplaned agenda against Gaza
> and Palestinian people.
>
> I call upon you to spread the word and to try to shake the silent world.
>
>

End the Assault Against North of Gaza

Press Release: 2 November 2006

END THE ASSAULT ON BEIT HANOUN

Yesterday the Israeli Occupation Forces began the
grotesquely named “Operation Autumn of Fury” on the
Gaza Strip. Beit Hanoun, scene of the continuing
massacre by Israel since June 25th, was re-occupied by
Israeli tanks. Since yesterday 12 civilians have been
shot dead and more than 65 woemn and children have
been injured. On the first dayof Eid Ul Fiter, last
week, 7 residents of the town were also killed by the
IOF.

The town of Beit Hanoun was bombed by Apache
helicopters and F16 and V58 fighter planes. All of
Beit Hanoun’s residents have no water or electricity
today. These air-strikes which damage essential
infrastructure and terrify the civilian population are
a form of collective punishment against the
Palestinian people and are war crimes which are
forbidden under international humanitarian law,
especially the Fourth Geneva Convention, which
prescribes the manner in which armies must treat
civilians during times of conflict.

We, therefore, call on the international community to
exert pressure on the Israeli Occupation Forces to
conduct itself within the boundaries of international
humanitarian law and ensure the protection of all
Palestinian civilians.

We also demand the immediate halt of the Israeli
Occupation Forces’ attacks on the Gaza Strip and an
end to the closure and isolation of the Strip, both of
which are exacerbating an already desperate
humanitarian situation inside the Strip.

For Comments contact:
Dr. Mona Al Farra +97082846602 or 0+972 599 410 741.
Dr Abu Ala'a, Gaza Strip, + 972 599 441766
Dr Asaad Abu Sharkh, Gaza Strip, + 972 599 322636
Dr Ayyoub Othman, + 972 599 412 826