B’Tselem
reported that since February 27 until afternoon of March 3, 106
Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, and that at least
fifty-four of them, including 25 minors, did not take part in the
fighting.
The Center added that at least 46 of the wounded residents were children.
The
statement of the Center came in response to an initiative by the
Israeli Defense Minister, who said that the army would probe “the
legality of shelling areas that are used by Palestinian fighters in
firing homemade shells into adjacent Israeli areas”.
B’Tselem
stated that even if the army is targeting “legitimate military targets”
such attacks are prohibited if they are likely to cause harm to the
civilians in those areas, and added that targeting neighborhoods from
which homemade shells were fired is considered indiscriminate and a
grave breech to the international law.
B’Tselem added that it
could not conduct a thorough investigation of the event as the fighting
only stopped on Monday morning, but stated that an initial probe of
some incidents in which civilians were killed raises deep concern that
the army is using excessive and disproportionate force while failing to
distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The Center said
that in one of the cases, the army killed four children, identified as
‘Ali Dardona, 8, Muhammad Hamudah, 9, Dardona Dardona, 12, and ‘Omer
Dardona, and wounded two others while they played soccer in the street,
east of the Jabalia refugee camp on 28 February.
An
investigation conducted by the center revealed that Qassam shells might
have been fired from a nearby area, about 100 meters away, but yet no
armed fighters were killed or injured in the army shelling.
B’Tselem
also stated that the army killed Iyad and Jacqueline Mohammad Abu
Shbak, 16 and 17, while they were in their home and watching the
fighting through the window of their house east of Jabalia. The slain
brother and his sister where shot in the head and chest.
B’Tselem
also probed the death of Mohammad Al Bora’ey, 6 months, in Al Rimal
neighborhood in Gaza City on February 27. Several residents were
injured in the incident as the army shelled the nearby Ministry of
Interior.
The building were the ministry is located is a civilian building with no military presence, this it is not a military target.
B’Tselem
called on both sides of the conflict to abide by the law and to protect
the civilians who are not part of the fighting.
