16 May 2007: B'Tselem calls on armed Palestinian groups to respect the rules of international humanitarian law

The hostilities between the armed Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip have been occurring on and off for about eight months, and yesterday the fighting took a heavy toll. From October 2006 to 30 April 2007, 112 persons, at least twenty-five of whom were not engaged in the hostilities, eleven minors among them, have been killed. Three other children were killed on 11 December 2006 in an incident that was, it is believed, linked to the hostilities between the armed groups. During this period, armed activists abducted activists from opposing groups, uninvolved civilians, and foreign journalists, and held them hostage.

Since the beginning of the second intifada, 317 Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have been killed on suspicion of collaborating with Israel or in these hostilities. Ninety-two of the victims were not involved in the hostilities, and twenty-six were minors.

In light of the events in the Gaza Strip over the past eight months, B'Tselem is concerned that the situation will further deteriorate, and calls on the armed Palestinian groups to respect the rules of international humanitarian law set forth in Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions, which apply in non-international conflicts, and apply, regardless of the circumstances, to all persons taking part in the hostilities. This article specifies four kinds of acts that are forbidden in respect of persons who are not involved in the hostilities, including combatants who have been wounded or have laid down their weapons: "(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (b) taking of hostages; (c) outrages upon person dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; (d) the passing of sentences and the carrying our of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court…" Breach of these prohibitions constitutes a war crime, for which the violators are held personally responsible.