Title
Israel Kills More than 50 Palestinian Children in 2008
Link
Israel Kills More than 50 Palestinian Children in 2008 <BR><font class="ttext">‘Generations of Palestinian Children Have Never Known Peace’</font>
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Excerpt
While the Palestinian people were still celebrating the Child’s Day and one day after the Israeli artillery fire in northern Gaza killed a Palestinian farmer attending to his grove, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) operating near al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed Palestinian child Abdullah Ahmad Bhar,6, and wounded four of the child's family members.
The boy was killed when an IOF shell exploded near his home in the al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.
The medical workers, who examined the boy's body in a Gaza hospital, said he was killed by a shrapnel fragment from an IOF tank shell.
Since the beginning of 2008, 49 Palestinian children have been killed by the IOF, 39 of whom were not involved in any kind of combat activity. A staggering 33 of this total were killed in the space of five days, between 27 February and 3 March during Israel's 'Warm Winter' operation in Gaza. Six of the children were killed while inside their homes.
In 2007, a total of 55 children were killed by the IOF troops in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory. At least 345 children were injured and approximately 700 Palestinian children were arrested and detained by the IOF – 30 of them were thrown into prison without charge or trial, under administrative detention orders. At least four children were used as human shields by Israeli soldiers and physically coerced to perform dangerous military operations for the Israeli army, and at least 17 Palestinian children were injured after being physically assaulted by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, the Defence for Children International/Palestine Section (DCI/PS) reported on Saturday.
Since the eruption of the second Palestinian Intifada on September 29, 2000, at least 1.015 Palestinian children and youths under the age of 18 were killed by the IOF. During the same period, more than thousand Palestinian children were injured and many children were maimed.
“Generations of Palestinian children have never known peace or self-determination. In May this year, we will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the (Palestinian) Nakba. In June last year we marked 40 years of Israeli occupation. Hundreds of children have been killed, thousands injured, forced to leave their homes or their country, separated from their families, arrested and detained for months or years, used in military and intelligence activities, beaten-up, humiliated and harassed on a daily basis, prevented from going to school or from receiving medical care; prevented from playing, laughing and living normal lives. Israeli occupation policies and practices represent a system of institutionalized violence and discrimination that pervades and distorts every aspect of the life of every Palestinian child,” said the Defence for Children International/Palestine Section.
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Comment:
And its only April..