Illegal Israeli actions in OPT – Reiteration of the Palestinian call for protection for the civilian population in Gaza – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 11 July 2014 from the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council

Over the past 48 hours, Israel, the occupying Power, has continued with its savage military campaign against the Palestinian civilian population in the besieged Gaza Strip, wreaking ever more havoc, death and destruction and declaring the intention to continue attacks, thereby endangering many more innocent lives. We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Israeli aggression and the continued perpetration of State terror against the Palestinian people. We reiterate our call for immediate protection for the Palestinian civilian population from this murderous and criminal Israeli rampage.

Since my previous letter, dated 9 July, the Israeli occupying forces have carried out hundreds more bombings and missile strikes targeting hundreds of locations in Gaza. Reports indicate that, since the start of this aggression, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed. This lethal campaign has also wounded over 700 other Palestinians, with some critically wounded and struggling for their lives. The casualties have tragically included dozens of children, among them many under the age of 5, women and the elderly, and many members of the same families as well as the killing of entire families. The following are just some of the names of the Palestinians brutally and wilfully murdered by the occupying Power over the past 48 hours:

Salem Qandeel, Amer Al-Fayouni and Bahaa Abu Elail were killed by a strike on their car north of Gaza City

Mahmoud Al-Haj, Tariq Saad Al-Haj, Saad Mahmoud Al-Haj, Omar Al-Haj, Najla Mahmoud Al-Haj and Amina Al-Haj — all from the same family —were killed by an airstrike on their home west of Khan Younis

Raed Shalat (age 30) was killed by an airstrike on his home in Al-Nuseirat camp, which also injured his wife and their three children

Ibrahim Khalil Qanan (age 24) and his brother Mohammed Khalil Qanan (age 25), Ibrahim Swali (age 33) and his brother Mohammed Swali (age 28), Salem Al-Astal (age 55) and Mohammed Al-Ackad (age 24) were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a crowd that had gathered at a beach café in Khan Younis

Abdullah Abu Ghazl (age 4) was killed and his brother injured by an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza

Hussein Abu Jamei (age 57) and his son Ismail (age 19) were killed by a strike on their home in Khan Younis

Mohammed Ihsan Farawneh (age 19) was killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis

Mahmoud Wloud, Hazem Baalousha and Alaa Abdel Nabi were all killed by an airstrike on their car in Al-Saftawi neighbourhood in the northern Gaza Strip

Yasmeen Al-Mutaweq (age 4) was killed by an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip

Ahmed Zaher Hamdan (age 22) died days later of injuries he sustained in an Israeli airstrike

Mohammed Al-Kahlout was killed in an airstrike east of Jabaliya refugee camp

Sami Adnan Shildan (age 25) was killed in an airstrike on Al-Zaitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City

Shand Helmi Al-Qarnawi (age 5) died days later of injuries she sustained in an Israeli airstrike

Abdel Halim Ashra (age 54) was found under the rubble of his home, which was hit by an Israeli war plane in Deir Al-Balah

Abdallah Abu Mahrouq died of injuries he sustained during an Israeli strike yesterday, 10 July, while he was on his motorcycle in Deir Al-Balah

Anas Rizq Abu Al-Kas (age 30) was killed in a strike on Burj Tal Al-Hawa, west of Gaza City

Adnan Salem Al-Ashhab (age 40) was killed in a strike south of Gaza City

Mazen Aslan and Shahraman Abu Al-Kas were killed in a strike in Al-Breij camp in central Gaza

Mohammed Rabii Abu Hmaidan (age 65) was killed by an airstrike in Beit Lahia

Wisam Abdel Razeq Ghannam (age 23), Mahmoud Abdel Razeq Ghannam, Kifah Shehada (age 20), Ghalia Deeb Ghannam (age 7) and Mohammed Mounir Ashour (age 25) were all killed by a strike on their home in Rafah

Nour Marwan Al-Najdi (age 10) was killed by an airstrike on Al-Nanda neighbourhood in Rafah

Saber Sukkar (age 80) and Hussein Mohammed Al-Mamlouk (age 47) died of injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Shujaiah neighbourhood in Gaza City

For all of these heinous crimes against the Palestinian people, Israel must be held fully accountable and justice must be achieved for the victims. The failure to do so will only embolden Israel's impunity, further exacerbating this conflict and deepening the already-grave suffering of the Palestinian people under this illegitimate occupation. In this connection, we reiterate our urgent call on the international community to act collectively and responsibly to address this crisis. The duties of the international community, including the Security Council, are clear and must be respected and upheld. International law, including humanitarian and human rights law, must be upheld and must not be allowed to be so flagrantly dismissed without consequence. Immediate action must be undertaken in particular by the Security Council in accordance with its Charter authority to bring a halt to Israel's onslaught against the Palestinian people and to extinguish the flames of this most recent deadly cycle of violence that has already claimed too many innocent civilian lives.

The present letter is in follow-up to our 505 letters regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which constitutes the territory of the State of Palestine. These letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-5/2000/921) to 9 July 2014 (A/ES-10/638-5/2014/483), constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. For all of these war crimes, acts of State terrorism and systematic human rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

I would be grateful if you would arrange to have the present letter distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Riyad Mansour

Ambassador

Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine
to the United Nations