Israeli occupation forces admit to killing of three Palestinian children in Gaza in a damage-control story

Date: 01 / 09 / 2007 Time: 09:47

Bethlehem – Ma'an –

An Israeli occupation forces investigation has revealed that the three children killed by Israeli occupation artillery fire on Wednesday were not in any way involved in resistance activity, but were just playing.

The Israeli occupation forces investigation was conducted through videotape analysis by a military monitor and showed that the three children of Abu Ghazala were not gathering rocket launchers, as the Israeli occupation forces at first claimed, but were playing hide-and-seek.

The investigation claimed (as an apparent damage control attempt) that the Israeli occupation forces were unable to determine the identity or age of the figures pictured on the military monitors.

The probe also revealed that the Israeli occupation soldiers, who launched the rocket, realised that children were in the area, but (the damage control story claimed that they) were unable to change the path of the rocket.

The videotape showed a child leaving the location before the rocket exploded.

The military investigation claimed that the angle of the monitor cannot determine the age of the targets, or any aspects of their physical appearance.

The Israeli occupation forces admitted after the analysis of the videotape that the three children were playing hide-and-seek, which is why they entered and re-entered the area of the rocket launchers, and that they were not in fact loading and re-loading the launchers.

Israeli occupation forces admit to killing of three innocent children

Friday August 31, 2007 10:38 by John Smith - IMEMC & agencies johnsmithimemc at gmail dot com

Three innocent Palestinian children killed in Gaza on Tuesday were merely playing near rocket launchers in the area when they were targeted by Israeli fire, and were unconnected with any resistance activity, the Israeli occupation army stated on Thursday.

Beit Hanoun is subject to constant Israeli attacks

While a spokesperson for the Israeli occupation army had stated on Tuesday that the slain children were somehow involved in resistance, suggesting that they had been used to collect rocket launchers, a military probe launched in the aftermath of the killing revealed that the children were merely playing in the area.

Video footage obtained by the probe reportedly shows three figures of an indeterminate age approaching the site of the rocket launchers and backing away. Despite being unable to identify the targets, the Israeli occupation forces would have appeared to use such aerial photography as a justification to open fire.

There have been no indications that those involved in the attack will be subject to a criminal investigation.

Three Palestinians Children and a Youngman Killed by Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza Strip

Four residents, including three children killed in the Gaza Strip

Wednesday August 29, 2007 23:05 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian medical sources in Gaza city reported on Wednesday at night that the number of residents who were killed in the Gaza Strip arrived to four, including one who died of earlier wounds.

Earlier in the day, two children were killed when the Israeli occupation forces fired a surface-to-surface missile at a group of residents in Abu Safiyya area, in Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

The two children were identified as Yahia Ramadan Abu Ghazala, and Mahmoud Mousa Abu Ghazala. A third child, identified as Sara Abu Ghazal suffered serious wounds and was moved to Kamal Adwan hospital.

Moreover, a third child died of wounds sustained Thursday when the Israeli occupation forces fired a tank shell at a house in Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Muawiya Hassanen, head of the Emergency Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, reported on Thursday evening that one resident died of wounds sustained during an earlier military shelling to Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City.

Dr, Hassanain stated that Sameh Nasser Riziq al Sawafeery, 20, died on Thursday at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Al Sawafeery was seriously injured on Thursday August 23, when the Israeli occupation forces fired shells at residents in Gaza City.

He was injured by fragments that penetrated his skull and centered in his brain, while his companion, Ahed Abu Jabal died instantly during the shelling.

Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, along with other resistance groups, vowed fierce retaliation to the Israeli offensives.

Two children killed by Israeli occupation forces fire in northern Gaza, as a fighter dies of wounds Rami Almeghari, IMEMC & Agencies, Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:43:06

At least two Palestinian children have been killed and a number of others wounded when Israeli army opened heavy fire on a group of children just close to the northern Gaza-Israel border line.

Palestinian medics reported that Yahya Abu Ghazzala and Mahmoud Abu Ghazzala were killed, the latter’s sister and a fourth unknown child were wounded with shrapnel.

In the meantime, the Ezzieldin Alqassam Brigades, the militant offshoot of Hamas movement, announced Wednesday the death of its member Sameh Alsawafeeri, due to wounds the latter sustained earlier during an Israeli attack.

Israeli occupation forces have recently reinforced presence in the northern Gaza Strip, under the pretext of preventing Palestinian resistance groups from firing homemade shells into adjacent Israeli towns.

Funeral in Gaza for three children killed by Israeli shelling

Date: 30 / 08 / 2007 Time: 11:18

Gaza – Ma'an –

Hundreds of people took to the streets of the town of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip for the funeral of three dead children killed by Israeli artillery fire on Wednesday as they played near their home.

Ten-year-old Yahya Ramdan Abu Ghazala and twelve-year-old Mahmoud Abu Ghazala died instantly. Their ten-year-old cousin, Sara, was seriously injured. She died later in hospital.

Israeli occupation sources claim the children were playing near a rocket launcher, used to fire missiles at Israeli forces.

There were no tears during the funeral, just shock and grief frozen on the faces of the Ghazala family who have lost so much.

Bahar deplores Israeli ugly aggression against unarmed Palestinians and children

[ 30/08/2007 - 10:06 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the acting speaker of the PLC, deplored, during his meeting with a European delegation from the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), the Israeli latest horrendous aggression against unarmed Palestinians during which more than 22 Palestinians were killed including two children and a citizen with special needs.

Dr. Bahar explained to the European delegation how the IOA is the main bottleneck before the independence of the Palestinian people through its persistence on the continuation of the siege, establishment of barriers and prevention of the entry of medicines and basic materials to the Gaza Strip as well as many other Israeli violations and arbitrary measures.

He pointed out that the PLC continues its legislative and supervisory role in following all inter-Palestinian issues and in serving the citizens despite the kidnapping of a third of the MPs atop of them is speaker Aziz Duwaik.

For their part, the European delegation explained that the center and all Europeans really want to see the PLC assumes its legislative and supervisory role and preserves the Palestinian democratic experience, highlighting the importance of rebuilding the Palestinian security apparatuses, and not monopolizing the authority.

The delegation also expressed rejection to the Israeli policy which targets the PLC and kidnaps its MPs, considering it a racist policy.

In a press release on Wednesday received by the PIC, Taher Annono, the spokesman for the caretaker government, strongly condemned the "terrorist aggression" committed by the IOF troops in northern Gaza Strip, where they killed with a surface-to-surface missile two Palestinian children Yahya and Mahmoud Abu Ghazal and seriously wounded a third girl, who later succumbed to her wounds.

The children's bodies, which were murdered in the Abu Safiya area, to the east of Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, were torn and burnt in the Zionist bombing.

The caretaker government held the IOA responsible for the repercussions of this terrorist operation, calling on the international community to curb the IOF troops from committing crimes against the Palestinian citizens and to stop considering Israel above law and accountability.

***

Note to Readers:

The Israeli settlements as well as the Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall in the Palestinian occupied territories have been built illegally on confiscated Palestinian lands. These represent a major violation of international law, Geneva Conventions, and they obstruct reaching a peaceful resolution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Israeli occupation forces abduct and kidnap Palestinians from their homes and at checkpoints, on daily basis. Most media refer to these abductions and kidnappings as arrests, which is inaccurate and not true as the Israeli occupation government has no jurisdiction over Palestinian citizens inside their own territories.

Further, when Israeli occupation forces kill Palestinian civilians, particularly when the victims are women and children, this should be referred to as an act of terrorism, and perpetrators should be described as terrorists.

Since the end of the second intifadha in 2005, not a single Israeli civilian was killed by Palestinian resistance organizations. However, Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces, almost on daily basis.

Note to Journalists:

Any journalist who does not describe this as terrorism is biased, unfair, not objective, and a participant in terrorizing the Palestinian people, so the Israeli occupation of Palestine can continue endlessly.

Note to Translators:

The Arabic definite article, Al (or its variant, El) should be written with a hyphen separating it from the noun it is associated with, for example Al-Aqsa. If a hyphen is not used, as in Al Aqsa, it confuses non-Arabic readers. They may think that it is an abbreviation of the name Albert, as many Americans do.

The Arabic definite article Al (or El) should be written as such, whether it is Shamsiyah or Qamariyah in pronunciation, simply because we are dealing with the written form of the language, not the spoken one. Using the Shamsiyah so many forms in writing is inaccurate and confusing to non-Arabic readers, to say the least.

Only standard (fasih) pronunciation of Arabic names should be used. Non-standard ('ammi) should be avoided avoided. Example: Names like Abu Sunainah, Abu Rudainah, and Abu Shebak are written by some translators in the non-standard forms of Abu Snainah, Abu Rdainah, and Abu Shbak.

The standard pronunciation of the vowel at the end of names is (a), not (e), particularly if it is followed by (h), like in the cases of Haniyah and Rudainah, not Haniyeh and Rudaineh.

The standard pronunciation of vowels in the following names is (ai), not (ei) as written by some translators: Hussain, not Hussein and Hassanain, not Hassanein.

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