Destroyed car and buildings from Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
Statement
At approximately 10:30pm on Wednesday 27 February, an Israeli air strike hit
the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City. The attack also destroyed the
head office of Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) in Gaza, and killed
Mohammad Nasser al-Borey, a 6-month-old baby who was in his family home inside
a United Nations school compound. The offices the al-Mezan Centre for Human
Rights had vacated last month fearing such an attack have also been damaged.
Over 30 civilians were injured in this specific attack.
The PMRS head office was housing the main PMRS clinic in the Gaza Strip,
including its main pharmacy, a mobile clinic, a loan centre for persons with
disabilities and all administrative offices. The mobile clinic, all the
medicine supplies and most of the equipment have been destroyed. The building
itself is badly damaged and cannot be used again without extensive repairs.
This bombardment is part of ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip: over the last 24
hours, there have been over 15 people killed (including at least three
children) over 30 people injured (including several children) in over 25
Israeli air strikes and artillery strikes. One of the artillery strikes hit a
crowd of children playing football near a wedding hall in the Jabalia refugee
camp, killing two children and injuring five.
Israel’s aerial bombing in the centre of a densely-populated city is an illegal
means of warfare; it is clear that these attacks will directly cause civilian
casualties and damage to civilian property and infrastructure. The targeting of
schools, clinics and ministries is a war crime.
These attacks come amidst the ongoing collective punishment of the occupied
civilian population of Gaza; this includes the restricting fuel, electricity,
food, medical, and humanitarian supplies – resulting in humanitarian crisis.
Since the start of 2008, 132 Gazans have been killed in Israeli attacks; it is
estimated that over 44 civilians have died as a result of being denied access
to medical care.
The international community has an obligation to ensure that international
humanitarian law is upheld by all parties. International donors must take a
stand against all ongoing violations, and particularly address the destruction
of Palestinian civil society projects and infrastructure that they support.
Signatories:
ACSUR Las Segovias (Spain)
Al-Mezan Centre
for Human Rights (Palestine)
Alternative
Information Centre (Israel/Palestine)
Campaign for the
Children of Palestine - CCP (Japan)
CISS –
Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (Italy)
Centro Regionale
d’Intervento per la Cooperazione - C.R.I.C. (Italy)
Diakonia Regional
Middle East Office (Sweden)
European Jews for
a Just Peace Germany
Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement (Israel)
GVC - Gruppo
di Volontariato Civile (Italy)
Japan
International Volunteer Center (JVC)
Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation (Sweden)
MAP-UK (United
Kingdom)
medico
international e.V. (Germany)
medico international Schweiz
(Switzerland)
Mundubat (Spain)
Norwegian
People’s Aid – Palestine
Norwegian Refugee Council
Olive Oil Campaign
/ Kampagne Olivenöl (Switzerland)
Palestinian
Medical Relief Society – PMRS (Palestine)
The Palestine
Solidarity Association of Sweden
Physicians for
Human Rights – Israel
Terre des Hommes Italy
Women Against
Violence (Israel)
Zochrot (Israel)
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