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PHRMG
is gravely concerned with the startling number of youths
that have been killed at the hands of the Israeli Army.
Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world,
already full of cinder-block refugee camps and miserable
living conditions, has become the site of increased killings
of children by Israeli Army shootings in civilian areas.
- 11
year old Nadda Maddi of Rafah in the Gaza Strip was shot
to death by Israeli soldiers on Thursday, December 19, at
noon. She was standing inside her home, near the window,
when she was fatally shot in the chest.
- On
Wednesday, December 18, 15 year old Alaa al-Sdoudi, also
from Rafah, was killed when Israeli tanks fired in her
residential neighborhood and hit her in the stomach.
- On
Tuesday, December 17, 16 year old Jawad Issam Zeidan of
Khan Younis was also shot to death by Israeli soldiers.
He was in his home, asleep in his bed when an Israeli
missile came through the house and killed him.
On
December 15, another child in Gaza, 13 year old Sawsan
Salama, was shot in the back by Israeli soldiers. The
bullet entered the right side of her back, and exited
through the left side. As she was being rushed to the
hospital, the Israeli Army detained the ambulance she was
traveling in, arrested and abused the medical staff tending
to her, and delayed her transport to the hospital for hours.
Such
sad atrocities are breaches of international and human
rights law, as well as basic ethics for the respect of lives
of children. The Declaration of the Rights of the Child of
November 1959 Principle 2 states that, “The child shall
enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities
and facilities…to enable him to develop physically,
mentally, morally, spiritually, and socially in a healthy
and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and
dignity.” Such treaties are created and signed as essential
guidelines for protecting innocent lives in all situations.
These statutes must be upheld in all circumstances, and when
they are not, international action must be taken to correct
the situation.
It is
the appeal of PHRMG that international observes be sent to
the Gaza Strip and West Bank
until Israel’s
illegal occupation finally comes to an end. PHRMG also
calls on the United
States and the rest of the international community to
strongly speak out against these crimes against children and
take real action to see that they do end. It has become too
common for children to be killed randomly and then quickly
added as another statistic of war. Only by strongly holding
to signed international agreements and enforcing them, can
we expect a positive change. |
