- On Sunday morning, 15 January 2006, Israeli Occupation
Forces (IOF) killed a Palestinian woman and her son and wounded 5 other
members of the same family in Roujib village, east of Nablus. Israeli military
sources claimed that IOF fired at the house in response to gunfire from
the house. They further claimed that IOF later raided and searched the
house, where they found weapons and ammunition. However, preliminary investigations
conducted by PCHR refute IOF's claim.
-
- According to preliminary investigations conducted by
PCHR, at approximately 02:300 on Sunday 15 January 2006, IOF positioned
on al-Bayader Mount, to the east of 'Awarta commercial checkpoint, southeast
of Nablus, opened fire at a house belonging to Munjed Fawaz Dwaikat, 52,
in Roujib village to the east of the city. Dwaikat's wife, 47-year-old
Nawal Ahmed Asa'ad Dwaikat, 47, woke up hearing the sounds of shooting.
She went up to the third floor of the house. There, she found her son,
21-year-old Fawazi, dead. She hurried towards her husband and informed
him of what she had seen. The husband immediately went to the third floor.
Immediately, IOF opened fire at him. He was wounded by a bullet to the
left eye. Members of the family rushed into the streets asking for help.
Five minutes later, the wife and other members of the family went into
the house to verify the source of the fire. Immediately, they were fired
at from the same source. The wife was killed by at least 15 live bullets.
Three of her sons and her daughter were also wounded:
-
- 1. Fawaz Munjed Fawaz Dwaikat, 28, seriously wounded
by 4 bullets to the chest;
- 2. Fawzan Munjed Fawaz Dwaikat, 27, seriously
wounded by a bullet to the left shoulder;
- 3. Rawand Munjed Fawaz Dwaikat, 20, seriously
wounded by a bullet to the pelvis; and
- 4. 'Alaa' Munjed Fawaz Dwaikat, 22, wounded by
a bullet to the right foot.
-
- Soon afterwards, IOF raided and searched the house.
They allowed ambulances to evacuate the wounded to hospitals in Nablus.
-
- It is worth noting that the deceased son had been guarding
the house, at the time of the attack, as the family's car had been burnt
out on Thursday, 12 January 2006. The lights in the room where he had
been standing were on, when he was shot dead through the window on 15 January.
-
- PCHR strongly condemns this latest crime, which further
proves IOF's disregard from the lives of unarmed Palestinian civilians.
PCHR remains concerned over the ongoing escalation of violence by IOF in
the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which will cause increased suffering
for Palestinian civilians. Consequently, PCHR calls upon the international
community to assume its responsibilities to stop such actions, and particularly
calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention
of 1949 to fulfill their obligations to ensure protection for Palestinian
civilians in the OPT and stop grave breaches of the Convention perpetrated
by IOF.
|
