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Palestinian human rights official accuses Israel of executing prisoners and burying injured alive during war on Gaza

February 28, 2014 at 10:54 am

A Palestinian human rights official has accused the Israeli government of committing multiple crimes during its war on the Gaza Strip last winter, as it deliberately killed Palestinians after detaining them, while the fate of others are still unknown.

“Israel carried out killings of numerous prisoners who died after being detained by the Occupation Army,” said Nashaat El Wahidi, Researcher and General Coordinator at the Popular Movement for the Support of Detainees and Palestinian Rights, and a member of the Commission on Gaza’s National and Islamist Detainees.
 
He added in a report issued yesterday, Monday, 19 October, that “the Israeli Occupation committed war crimes against detained and wounded Palestinians, as it buried wounded Palestinians alive, during the invasion of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza, as did occur on 11, May, 2004, with the Ihab Mohamed Said Abdel Maleka and Walid Khaled Azzam, both from al-Zaytoun neighborhood, and Ihab Mohammad Amer, from Khan Yunis; and this operation was carried out against injured Palestinians 100 meters west of the Dawla building.”


Al Wahidi stated, “The Israeli war led to the loss of many Gazans, whose fate is still unknown to this day, which obliges us to open the file of missing Palestinians; disclose secret Israeli prisons and the fate of missing Palestinians; and prosecute and try Israeli war criminals.” 
 
And he also mentioned the “massacre” of the Sammouni family in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood as evidence of Israeli “war crimes”, stressing that 27 of the 90 family members who were detained in the house of Wael Fares Hamdi Sammouni, 32, died as a result of the three rockets fired by Israeli war planes directly on the house, leading also to the serious injuring of tens, many of whom died of their injuries later.Palestinian girl buried alive
 
He added that “there is another kind of war crimes committed by the occupation army and their leaders against innocent Palestinians, as they prevented a pregnant woman from reaching the Al Shifaa Hospital. Her husband, Maged Hamdi Mahmoud EL Sammouni, a 42-year-old farmer, had to contact the hospital, gave him instructions to help his wife with childbirth. El Sammouni’s family members were held and detained by the Israeli army. His wife gave birth to a baby girl and named her Soujod.”
 
Wahidi reported what was said by an eyewitness, that the Occupation’s army killed the citizen Helmi Attia Sammouni — whose family members were detained by Israel — immediately after he opened the door of the house in response to the appeal and the yelling of Israeli soldiers. “And upon the death of the innocent citizen, his 5-year-old son – Ahmed – cried, ‘Why did you kill my father?’ The Israeli Occupation’s army responded with two bullets in Ahmed’s chest, immediately leading to his death.”

He also stressed on the need for the interaction of the International Council for Human Rights with the Palestine Issue to ensure the prosecution and trial of Israeli “war criminals”, and he called for the formation of an international legal court and committee to move immediately “to compel Israel to abide by all international and humanitarian conventions, charters, and laws for the prosecution and trial of the occupation on the one hand and the acknowledgement of the usurped legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”
 
He called on the Arab League to take a firm and responsible stance on the national Palestinian national rights and not to let the Occupying Power escape the fulfillment of its responsibilities, especially after the results achieved by the Goldstone report on 16 October 2009. The official said that the Arab League must take full advantage of this global climate to restore Arab pride and dignity, which are almost mourned by the Arab nation.
 
The Palestinian Human Rights official called on all Palestinians to intensify their efforts to restore Palestinian unity, which is being eroded as a result of divisions, which has had a negative impact on the national cause.

Source: Quds Press