4. DENIAL OR BLOCKAGE OF MEDICAL AND HUMANITARIAN
HELP
AI-index:
MDE 15/143/2002 04/11/2002
Israel
and the Occupied Territories
Shielded from scrutiny: IDF violations in
Jenin and Nablus
Amnesty International's Conclusions
Failure to ensure medical or humanitarian relief
In both Jenin and Nablus, the IDF denied medical and humanitarian relief
organizations access to the affected areas –including Jenin refugee camp
and the old city of Nablus – even after it was reported that the fighting
had ceased. Medical relief services had no access to Jenin refugee camp for
nearly 11 days, from 4-15 April 2002. From 9 April until 14 April there were
up to five ICRC ambulances and doctors and about six Palestine Red Crescent
Society (PRCS) ambulances waiting to be allowed to enter the camp. In the
Nablus area no ambulances were allowed to move between 3 and 8 April and
medical services were severely restricted until 19 April. Meanwhile Palestinians
died without receiving medical attention and bodies remained decomposing
where they were killed for days.
On 12 April 2002 the Israeli organization HaMoked, the Centre for the Defence
of the Individual, petitioned the High Court to know why the Minister of
Defence did not send the special rescue unit to "search for and locate all
persons buried alive under the ruins in the Jenin refugee camp and rescue
them." In its judgment the court stated that "Law and morality both justify
the entry of the rescue unit". However the petition was rejected by the court
after the Counsel for the Ministry of Defence said that "the unit will attempt
to locate people". Amnesty International has received no information which
would indicate that after the 14 April judgment the IDF rescue unit entered
into Jenin refugee camp.
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, States are obliged to respect and protect
the wounded (Article 16), to allow the removal from besieged areas of the
wounded or sick, and the passage of medical personnel to such areas (Article
17), and for the distribution of medical and humanitarian supplies to besieged
areas (Article 55). The obstruction and targeting of medical personnel contravene
the prohibition against "willfully" causing great suffering or serious injury
to body or health" under Article 147 and as such are a grave breach of the
Convention and are therefore war crimes.
Amnesty International On-line. http://www.amnesty.org
ai-index MDE 15/154/2002 04/11/2002
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
Blocking medical and humanitarian relief
'Atiya Hassan Abu Irmaila, 44 , was shot in the head by the IDF while in
his home on 5 April. Desperate attempts by his family to call an ambulance
failed. The family was even unable to leave their home to tell relatives
that he had died. 'Atiya Hassan Abu Irmaila's body remained in the house
for seven days.
Suna Hafez Sabreh, 35, was shot and seriously injured on 7 April while closing
the door to her house. The family called an ambulance, but it failed to reach
them, on at least one occasion because it had come under fire. An ambulance
finally arrived two days later, after Suna Hafez Sabreh's condition had seriously
deteriorated. She has since had five operations.
In both Jenin and Nablus, the IDF denied medical and humanitarian relief
organizations access to the affected areas even after the fighting had stopped.
The IDF blocked medical aid for days; in addition they shot at ambulances
or fired warning shots around them. Ambulance drivers were harassed or arrested.
Meanwhile, the wounded lay for hours untended or were treated in homes, and
the dead remained in the street or in houses for days. In several cases,
people reportedly died in circumstances where lack of access to medical care
may have caused or hastened their death.
Access to essential supplies
Residents of Jenin town and refugee camp reported to Amnesty International
delegates their increasing fear as stocks of food and water diminished. The
delegates in the town between 15 and 17 April witnessed the trauma of families
who had spent the previous two weeks confined to their houses, with water
and electricity cut off for most of the period.
The electricity supply was cut in the city on 3 April 2002; in most places
service was restored within four to 10 days but, according to UNRWA, it was
not until 25 April that even a partial electricity supply was restored to
the lower part of the refugee camp. In an interview with Amnesty International,
the head of electricity services for the Jenin City Municipality provided
a detailed log of service interruptions as well as a report of damage assessment
by engineers. Several of the main feeders had been, in his view, targeted
and repair crews had been subjected to IDF gunfire when they attempted to
repair damaged cables.
Water supplies were also cut by the IDF and, in addition, many of the water
storage tanks on the tops of houses were damaged by IDF fire; in some places
the water supply was not restored for 20 days. The Director of the Water
Sector for Jenin city told Amnesty International delegates that in one pumping
station supplying Jenin city and the western villages the pumps were inoperable;
damage to the network was extensive and "mainlines from the reservoirs or
pumping stations were cut intentionally by bulldozers or indirectly through
heavy tank traffic. Seven of 11 booster pumps [which help water reach high
areas] were hit or destroyed by heavy machine gun fire or tanks. Damage to
the network inside the refugee camp was beyond repair." On 5 April the IDF
occupied one pumping station and dismissed the operator for four days. Camp
residents and those living in the upper areas of the town remained without
water for up to three weeks; UNRWA reports that water points to the camp
were not restored until 28 April.
The IDF Head of Plans and Policy Directorate told Amnesty International delegates
that there was no policy to cut either electricity or water and said that
Palestinians used water pipes to make bombs. However, between March and May
2002 Amnesty International's delegates inspected damaged electric feeders
and water pipes in many Palestinian towns and refugee camps. They concluded
that damage to electricity cables and water pipes was deliberate and widespread.
The prolonged curfew made it impossible for those in Jenin city or the refugee
camp to obtain alternative water supplies, except during the period in which
curfews were lifted. Humanitarian relief services were unable to provide
water, medical or food supplies until 17 April 2002. Most houses had reserves
of food; residents had suffered previous incursions and periods of curfew
and laid in supplies of rice, lentils, beans, as well as storing water in
bottles or buckets within their homes. Fresh milk and water and fresh food
were unavailable. Hospitals reported six cases within Jenin refugee camp
of children with complications resulting from drinking wastewater. Hospitals
had their own generators but services were affected by water and food shortages;
for days Jenin City Hospital patients and staff lived mainly on biscuits.
Blocking medical and humanitarian relief
Medical relief services were denied access to Jenin refugee camp for nearly
11 days, from 12 noon on 4 April until 15 April 2002. In addition the IDF
shot at ambulances(10) or fired warning shots around them. Ambulance drivers
were harassed or arrested. Meanwhile the dead in Jenin refugee camp remained
in the street or in houses for days. The wounded lay for hours untended or
were treated at home. In several cases people are reported to have died in
circumstances where lack of access medical care may have caused or hastened
their death. Many testimonies show families desperately telephoning for help
in vain and compelled to stay alone with dying or dead relatives. Many cases
of Palestinians killed by the IDF show the difficulty or impossibility of
obtaining medical care or an ambulance to remove the dead; three such cases
– of 'Atiya Abu Irmaila, Nayef Qasem 'Abd al-Jaber and 'Amid 'Azmi Abu Hassan
Fayed – are described below. In two cases investigated by Amnesty International
the delay in obtaining medical
treatment will have long term medical consequences for patients.
Medical personnel said that for the first 30 hours of the incursion, from
early morning on 3 April until noon on 4 April 2002, ambulances were able
to move. During this time ambulances brought five dead bodies and about 45
wounded to Jenin City Hospital. Among the first Palestinians killed was a
27-year-old nurse, Fadwa Fathi Abdallah Jamal, wearing her uniform, shot
by the IDF as she walked early in the morning of 3 April with her sister,
also a nurse, to go to a medical centre in the refugee camp.
From 12 noon on 4 April 2002 the IDF imposed a medical blockade and prevented
ambulances from entering the camp. Jenin City Hospital was surrounded by
tanks and the building opposite the hospital was used as an IDF base. All
those in the hospital at noon on 4 April were confined there: the visitors,
the staff and the sick - about 300 people: 100 medical personnel, 105 patients,
and their relatives. For some days they lived largely on biscuits, chocolate
and water. On 4 April the ICRC was prevented from delivering oxygen to the
hospital, which was running out of supplies, but the deliveries were allowed
the following day. The ICRC also delivered drugs, blood and food. By 5 April
the hospital had received six dead bodies (increasing to seven when one wounded
man died the next day in hospital), its morgue large enough for only one
body. IDF authorization was sought to bury the bodies in the small patch
of garden behind the hospital, and this was granted on 6 April.
On 6 April ambulances were still denied access to Jenin refugee camp. On
7 April ICRC landcruisers carrying supplies to the Jenin City Hospital were
blocked; however supplies were transferred to local ambulances and taken
to the hospital. On 8 April continuing negotiations between the ICRC, the
DCO and the army appeared to have brought about an agreement. The PRCS tried
to send three teams with the ICRC to the refugee camp to collect the wounded.
The ambulances were lengthily checked and the ambulance drivers forced to
lie on the ground. Around 5pm the IDF said that three people could be brought
in; the hospital should examine them but not ask them questions. The wounded
men were brought to hospital blindfolded. After examining them, Dr Abu Ghali,
the hospital director said that all needed urgent hospital treatment. The
IDF, however, allowed only one patient to enter the hospital.
"This whole operation and the negotiations with the IDF and the ICRC took
from 8am until 11pm and - at the end of the day - only one wounded man was
admitted into the hospital" said Dr Abu Ghali.
Between 9 and 14 April there was a standoff, day after day, outside Jenin
refugee camp, with up to five ICRC ambulances and doctors and about six PRCS
ambulances waiting in vain to be allowed by the IDF to enter the camp to
evacuate dead and wounded.
On the evening of 11 April an ICRC delegate and Dr Abu Ghali, the hospital
director, were sitting in Dr Abu Ghalis office on the top floor of the hospital
when two sniper bullets came through the window and hit the ceiling. They
telephoned the IDF commander who reportedly apologized saying an IDF sniper
had made a mistake.
On 14 April, three days after fighting had ended, Jenin refugee camp remained
cut off from the outside world. It had been nine days since the last dead
body had been brought out of the refugee camp. Only those wounded in the
camp who could struggle out themselves were in hospital.
Meanwhile a number of petitions had been brought to the Israeli High Court
of Justice. On 8 April the court, commenting on a petition which challenged
the Israeli army's "prevention of access to medical treatment for the sick
and wounded in Jenin and Nablus; restriction of access of medical personnel
and transport to the areas; and obstruction of the right to bury the dead
in a respectful manner", had stated:
"Although it is not possible to address the specific incidents in the petition
that on their face look harsh, we have to stress that our fighting forces
are obliged to apply humanitarian rules which refer to treating the injured,
in the hospitals and the bodies of the dead. Wrongful use of medical teams
and of hospitals and ambulances obliges the IDF to act in order to prevent
such activity; however, this by itself does not allow a sweeping violation
of humanitarian rules. In fact, this is also the declared position of the
State. This attitude is not only required by international law, on which
the petitioners are relying, but also by the values of the State of Israel
as a Jewish and democratic state."(11)
On 14 April three petitions were heard by the High Court of Justice including
a request that the ICRC and PRCS enter the camp to remove dead bodies. They
had been brought by Knesset members Muhammad Barakeh and Ahmad Tibi, and
by the human rights organizations Adalah and LAW. The representative of the
Attorney General initially stated that the Israeli army could not permit
humanitarian organizations to enter the area because some of the bodies might
be booby-trapped with bombs; it then agreed to allow entry. The court dismissed
the petitions but ordered that the
ICRC be allowed to accompany and assist the Israeli army in locating bodies
and that the PRCS also be permitted to join them.
After the High Court judgment, for the first time for 11 days, ICRC and PRCS
ambulances were allowed into the camp. They left at 6.30am on 15 April but
were delayed by the routine IDF searches. One team was told to remain with
their IDF escort; apparently the army limited their access and they found
no bodies. Dr Abu Ghali accompanied the other ambulance and described the
scene:
"I went in with my small video camera and I first saw one body. Then I saw
a second body. The third body I saw was a woman of 59, lying two metres from
a door, hit in the chest and head, her body was decomposed. So the IDF said:
'That is all you have. In the centre of the camp you have no survivors'.
I went on. In a room of a house I found a man of 85, alone, with no water,
dehydrated. I said, 'I must go further to see.' The IDF said: 'This is the
only region cleared by the Israeli army, if you go further we don't guarantee
you.' I walked 35 metres into the region not cleared and found 10 bodies.
Five were in one house; we could not collect them, the ICRC told the IDF
to bring them. I saw a lot of people looking from the windows and doors of
their houses, afraid, I said 'I will bring you food. Have you anything to
eat?' They said, 'Nothing'. I asked to be allowed to bring food and medication
for the survivors, the IDF said: 'You have two hours in the camp'."
During the two hours the IDF allowed them in the camp on 15 April Palestinian
and international medical and humanitarian teams were able to distribute
some food, water and milk into the camp. On 16 April the IDF allowed ICRC
and UNRWA personnel to enter the camp; the ICRC reported, in its daily summary:
"Part of the camp looks as if it had been hit by an earthquake ... Civilians
in the camp are under shock and report urgent need for medicine, water and
food."
On 16 April Jenin City Hospital contained 15 bodies - with one more brought
during the day. The High Court statement had ordered the ICRC and Israeli
army to identify the bodies in accordance with the requirements of international
humanitarian law. However, the entrance to the hospital was still blocked
by an IDF checkpoint with tanks. Dr Abu Ghali asked the IDF to allow Professor
Derrick Pounder, delegated by Amnesty International, access to the hospital
to perform autopsies, but an IDF doctor who was stationed at the checkpoint
told Professor Pounder: "If you were a
doctor treating people we would allow you in, but we are not interested in
a forensic doctor".
On 16 April Professor Pounder telephoned Amnesty International's headquarters
in London:
"There is no forensic expertise in Jenin and no one in the hospital with
any forensic training. Under international humanitarian law there is a requirement
to examine decomposed bodies in order to obtain evidence as to the cause
of death. This is in order to elucidate the circumstances of death and also
to help in identification of the body. The identification is necessary so
that the family may know and bury the body and for documentation. The longer
a body deteriorates the more the evidence deteriorates and the fewer hard
facts there are in order to get the evidence."
But it was only on the following day, after the Israeli Attorney General
Elyakim Rubinstein agreed that Professor Pounder should be given access,
that he was able to enter Jenin City Hospital where he carried out two autopsies
and three examinations. Examinations were performed on three of the five
bodies found in a single house and brought in that day by the IDF; they all
appeared to be combatants. The findings of the autopsies, according to Professor
Pounder "gave rise to suspicion"; they were on bodies later identified as
those of 'Ali Na'el Salim Muqasqas and Wadah Fathi Shalabi (see above).
Amnesty International delegates discussed the failure to allow access to
medical aid in Jenin, Nablus and elsewhere on many occasions with members
of the IDF. The Head of Plans and Policy Directorate, Major-General Giora
Eiland, denied that ambulances had been prevented from entry to Jenin for
more than two days, and this was only because the PRCS refused to allow their
ambulances to be checked. He mentioned a number of incidents when ambulances
were said to have been misused in order to carry healthy men, bodies to increase
the number of alleged dead in the refugee camp, or a suicide belt.(12) He
accepted there were difficulties in coordinating medical assistance with
ICRC and UNRWA. "Some problems were caused by our mistakes, some difficulties
were not necessary. But we gave Palestinians food, water and medication in
Jenin, and even electricity. We tried to evacuate injured Palestinians."
Notwithstanding the remarks of Major-General Giora Eiland, the evidence of
the blocking of medical and humanitarian aid to Jenin refugee camp for over
10 days is overwhelming.(13)
'Atiya Hassan Abu Irmaila
'Atiya Abu Irmaila, aged 44, was killed on 5 April by a single IDF
gunshot wound
to the head. At the time he was shot he was in his home with his wife and
three
children. According to his family, he was not involved in fighting.(14) The
case is an
example of the IDF's failure to distinguish between fighters and those not
involved in
fighting. It also illustrates the impact of the IDF's refusal to allow the
ICRC or the
PRCS to operate ambulances to collect the dead and care for the wounded.
'Atiya's wife, Hala, told Amnesty International:
"The night before Ati was killed, there were many shells that had fallen
on our house so we slept in the
kitchen. The following day, at about 1pm, a tank had sent a rocket that landed
between our house and
the neighbour's house. Later that afternoon, we began to assess the damage
to our house. My husband
was crawling through the house. The balcony did not have any windows and
faces on to the street. There
is a clear view from there to the street. I was the first to move about the
house and came back and told
my husband that the windows had been blown in. In the beginning, he said
he would go and see the
damage, but I convinced him not to move. We moved to the sitting room of
the house. After a while, the
shooting calmed a bit and my husband decided to go and check the rest of
the house. He crawled to
the next room, which is a guestroom. When he reached there, he found broken
glass on the floor, so
came back to the sitting room to get his shoes. It was about 5.25pm. If you
are wondering why I know
the time so precisely it is because we were just sitting and doing nothing,
so I kept checking my watch.
"I could see the tanks and soldiers just opposite to my house and I could
hear the helicopters. When
Ati went back to the guestroom, about two minutes or so passed and I heard
him say 'Hala, Hala,
come, come.' Just before he called me, I had heard a single gunshot. I took
my children and ran to
where my husband was. I entered the room and I found him standing. I asked
him 'what's up, what's up?'
He intended to say something but didn't manage. I then saw him bleeding from
the mouth and nose. I
ran toward him, he was slowly moving and then falling down. When he fell
on the floor, I asked him
where he was injured. I had thought he was shot in the chest as I could see
blood on his shirt. The
children were screaming. Ati did not speak. He looked at me one more time
and then convulsed. I had a
feeling he died then.
"I went back to the sitting room with my children. I don't remember how I
went back. My three children
were holding on to me crying. I tried to reach an ambulance by mobile phone.
Finally, I managed to
remember my brother's number and rang him and told him Ati was injured and
asked him to please call
an ambulance. I didn't tell him that I thought Ati had died. He told me he
would ring and to be patient.
When I was waiting for him to call back, Ati's brother-in-law called. I told
him what had happened and
asked him to phone ambulances. After a while he rang back and said that the
ambulances have no
access to reach us, and told me to try and give Ati some help. I then told
him that I thought Ati had
died. He told me that I was just afraid and he is probably unconscious. I
told him, 'No. He is dead'.
"At this moment, I was convinced no ambulance would reach us; I started to
shout for help from
neighbours. It was getting dark. I broke a window in a room that was close
to one of our neighbours and
started shouting for help. One of the neighbours replied and I asked for
a ladder. They could not reach
me with one, so I tried to jump from the first floor but the neighbours started
shouting that it was too
high. I went back inside. My children told me that they were scared. I managed
to get them to sleep and
then I used the mobile to try and call people for help. It became dark. I
had no electricity. I was alone.
My brothers and sisters rang but then the battery on my mobile phone died.
I had tried to use the
mobile to see when it grew dark. At this time, I remembered Ati had no blankets.
I brought him some
blankets and put them over him. I then went back and stayed with my children.
I didn't sleep.
"The next morning, I decided to try and reach Ati's family. I tried to jump
from the balcony but didn't
manage. It was just too high. I went back into the sitting room and asked
my son Muhammad, who is
seven years, if he would jump down. I tied some of my scarves together and
put around his waist. I
lowered him to the ground and told him to go to his grandfather's house and
to tell them that Ati was
killed. Muhammad went and reached his grandfather's house and told his grandfather
and his aunt.
Together with Ati's mother, they made their way back to my house.
"It is a week I will never forget. Imagine someone you live with, you talk
with and now he is just a dead
body. My children kept speaking with him as if he were alive. My four-year-old
son would go to his father,
asking him things – he would say to his father that he wanted cake and milk.
When the children would
fight, they would go to him.
"Ati's body remained with us for seven days. When I knew that the ambulance
was not coming, I
cleaned the blood off his face. Ati's mother stayed with us and slept next
to his body during the nights.
On the seventh day, when the curfew was lifted for two hours, an ambulance
came and took his body.
He was buried in the East Cemetery in Jenin..
Nayef Qasem 'Abd al-Jaber and 'Amid 'Azmi Abu Hassan Fayed
On 10 April Nayef 'Abd al-Jaber (19) and 'Amid Fayed (20) were killed by
helicopter machine gun fire in the al-Marah
area of Jenin city, just outside Jenin refugee camp. Just before the shooting,
the two young men had been visiting the
home of their friend Muhammad Shalabi (20), with a fourth friend, Ra'ed Ahmad
'Azzam (20). Amnesty International
delegates were told that none of the young men were members of any armed
group and there was no shooting from
armed Palestinians at the time. The account of the killings shows the failure
of the IDF to protect the population and
highlights the near impossibility of the wounded getting access to medical
help while the IDF blocked the access of
ICRC and PRCS ambulances.
Muhammad Shalabi described what he saw:
"At approximately 2.30pm on 10 April, I was together with my friends Nayef,
'Amid and Ra'ed. We
decided to leave my house as Nayef and 'Amid wanted to go home. We walked
into the street just in
front of my house, about five metres, and began to hear shooting. It was
from a helicopter. The shooting
lasted about 5-6 minutes. When I thought the firing had stopped, I began
to look around. I saw my
neighbour open his door. He looked confused and frightened. He was looking
towards where we all had
been standing before the firing began... Then I saw 'Amid lying on his stomach.
I could see blood
coming from his mouth and ears. My neighbour came out and helped me carry
his body into another
neighbours house. 'Amid said only, "Where are they?" We began to shout for
people to call an
ambulance. 'Amid's father then came."
'Amid's father, 'Azmi Abu Hassan Fayed, had been told that a young girl,
Rina Hassan, was injured, when he heard
people shouting his son's name. He ran toward the shouts and saw 'Amid lying
in a pool of blood. He said:
"When I first saw 'Amid, there was blood coming from his mouth and ears,
both of his legs had also
been injured. My brother, Ghassan, called a doctor and someone he knew from
the municipality and
asked them to send an ambulance, a Civil Defence or municipality car. But
in each case, he was told it
was impossible. Ambulances and vehicles were not safe to move. At this time,
I could hear the faint
beating of 'Amid's heart. We waited about 10 or 15 minutes. I tried to do
something for my son, but he
was leaving us. I could see this. When we realized that no ambulances or
cars would come, together
with 6-8 other people, we decided to carry 'Amid and Rina to the hospital
by foot. We put them on two
doors and my brother and the others carried him to the al-Razi hospital.
I received a call shortly after to
say 'Amid died en route to hospital.
"My son is a civilian. He got shot in a civilian neighbourhood. There are
no militants in this
neighbourhood and even in the camp, the battle was mostly over. The Israelis
said that they didn't kill
civilians but my son was a civilian."
Ghassan Abu Hassan described the search for an ambulance using his mobile
phone. Then, after waiting 10 minutes,
"We knew that ambulances could not move freely so we decided, myself and
my neighbours, to carry
'Amid and Rina to the hospital. We found two metal doors and placed some
wood on each and then
carried them toward al-Razi hospital.
"On the way to the hospital, we faced a tank on one of the streets, and then
another tank. One of the
tanks pointed its gun at us. When we passed the tanks, we raised the bodies
over our head so that they
would see we were carrying injured. When I had arrived at the house, 'Amid
was breathing but when we
arrived at the hospital, I put my hand on his neck and was fairly sure he
had died.
"When we first arrived at the hospital we were told to be careful as there
was a sniper situated opposite
the hospital. We were told that the hospital needed oxygen but that when
they tried to access it, they
were being shot at. The doctors told me, at that point, that 'Amid was dead
but they needed to try and
get oxygen for Rina."
Meanwhile, Qasem 'Abd al-Jaber, Nayef's father, was still looking for his
son, telephoning round the neighbourhood,
not daring to go out as tanks were outside his house. Eventually, around
4 or 5pm neighbours went out and found
Nayef dying under a car. Nayef's father was still afraid to leave his house,
but his wife insisted. Qasem 'Abd al-Jaber
told Amnesty International delegates:
"We reached the place near where they found my son. They had put him on a
ladder. I put my face just
near his head. He was still breathing. He was alive. I called a relative
who was a doctor at al-Razi
Hospital and asked him to send an ambulance or some medical help. He told
me that he could not and
that some of the ambulance staff had been arrested.
"We then lifted Nayef's body and brought him to the Shalabi family house.
Someone with us who had a
mobile called another ambulance and more hospitals, but the battery on the
mobile died. No one came.
I could see that my son had been shot in the left foot, right knee, right
chest and in the left side of the
neck. There was also a gash in the right side of his temple. Later on, we
would realize he also had an
injury to the back of his head.
"We took his body to the basement of the house. There was just my son, my
wife and myself. We
waited there for eight or nine hours. We were too afraid to go outside, so
we stayed. Finally, the Civil
Defence came about 2am the following day and brought him to the hospital.
He remained in the
intensive care unit until his death at 8pm on 11 April."
At the al-Razi Hospital they had received the call around 5pm to say that
Nayef was seriously injured and needed an
ambulance. The Director of the hospital called the PRCS and the head of Jenin
City Hospital, Dr. Abu Ghali, to find the
ICRC. The Civil Defence also tried to retrieve Nayef, but their first car
broke down and failed to arrive. After many hours,
a Civil Defence car succeeded in reaching Nayef Qasem 'Abd al-Jaber and returning
with him.
Medical care was not only delayed or rendered impossible for those affected
by the hostilities in the camp, but those
living within Jenin city were also often unable to obtain ambulance services
or access to either routine or emergency
health care.
AI-index: MDE 15/143/2002
04/11/2002
Israel
and the Occupied Territories
Shielded from scrutiny: IDF violations in
Jenin and Nablus
Amnesty International's Conclusions
Cutting water and electricity supplies
In Jenin the electricity supply was cut in the city on 3 April; in the lower
refugee camp even a partial electricity supply was not restored until 25
April. The Jenin municipality claimed that main feeders had been targeted
and repair crews subjected to gunfire. Water was also cut and many storage
tanks on houses were damaged by IDF fire. Camp residents and those living
in the upper areas remained without water for up to three weeks; UNRWA reports
that water points to the camp were not restored until 28 April. In Nablus
water and electricity were also cut from 3 April.
The cutting of water and electricity supplies constitutes collective punishment
prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.