Updates

Initial B’Tselem investigations indicate that 102 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip between the launch of the Israeli military’s “Pillar of Defense” operation on the afternoon of November 14, 2012 and the night of November 19. The investigations indicate that at least 40 of those killed were civilians, among them 19 minors, and 10 women. Three Israelis were killed in the course of the operation up to the night of the 19th, as a result of rocket fire from Gaza by Palestinian militant organizations.

According to media reports, on 10 November 2012 armed Palestinians fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli military jeep. Four soldiers were wounded, one seriously. In response, the Israeli military fired four tank shells - in short intervals - at a populated civilian area in eastern Gaza City, about 1.5 kilometers from the Gaza Strip perimeter fence. Four Palestinian civilians, including two minors, were killed. It is doubtful if firing a tank shell at a populated area constitutes a proportional response. An investigation by B'Tselem indicates that, after the first shell was fired, civilians came to aid the injured. Under such circumstances, the military should not have fired additional shells.

It has been reported in the media that, since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, members of Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip have killed seven Palestinians suspected of collaboration with Israel. These reports state that one man was shot to death on Friday, 16 November 2012, and the other six were shot to death on Tuesday, 20 November 2012. The body of one man was tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets. Photographs of the bodies, some of which had been mutilated, were published in the press.

"I felt as if I was about to fly through the air, and the window shattered. I saw that the bomb had landed in our yard. I found Samaher in the yard. She had several injuries. I tried to talk to her, but she was already dead. There was nothing I could do. I am left with Mayar, a baby not even two months old. Up to now, she had been nursing."

On Sunday 18 November 2012, Judi Ronen, a 58-year-old resident of Sde Nitzan was on her way home from Soroka Hospital in Beersheba where she works as a midwife. On the road just outside the city of Ofakim, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded near the car in which she was a passenger. The Magen David website reports that four people were injured in the rocket attack: one seriously, one moderately and two suffered mild injuries. Ronen relayed the description of events to B'Tselem.

A B’Tselem inquiry shows that on the morning of 17 November 2012, an Israeli attack targeted three armed men in Rafah. Two of them were killed on the spot and a third was wounded. Shortly afterwards, while 'Awad a-Nahal, age 31, a resident of a nearby house, was trying to evacuate the injured man, a second attack killed both the armed man and the civilian trying to evacuate him.

According to testimonies gathered by B’Tselem, on Thursday, 15 Nov. 2012, an Israeli military air strike took place in an urban area in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip. B’Tselem does not know the objective of the strike. A large crater was created at the point of impact and nearby houses were extensively damaged. Two boys, a 9-year-old and a 16-year-old, who lived in two of the buildings that were damaged, were killed. They sustained fatal injuries from shrapnel as they lay asleep in their homes. The fathers of the two dead boys described the incident to B’Tselem by telephone.

"The children’s conversation is about the types of missiles and planes. It hurts me so much to hear them talking about these things, instead of games or things they are learning in kindergarten or that they did with their friends. What kind of life do they have with this situation looming over them? We try to keep them busy and distract them from the news and what is happening, but what is happening is stronger."