3:30am: Over 100 killed
in Jenin DAY 11: Eyewitness Testimony in Palestine...Massacre in Jenin, A "Disaster" in Nablus...
April 8, 2002 * Up to the minute news reports from Palestine at: www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
More Eyewitness Reports from Palestinians in the West Bank go to: http://www.electronicintifada.org/diaries/index.html
(All Times Local in Palestine)
SUMMARY
5:35pm: Palestine Red Crescent Society Invasion Update
BETHLEHEM
Noon: From Bethlehem local churches and Organizations: An extremely unprecedented dangerous measure
5:30pm: Sounds from Palestine IMC as Georgina Reeves gives an Interview (audio)
6:00pm: Israeli Army: Anyone in the Streets will be Shot
9:50pm: Bulldozers rule broken Bethlehem
JENIN
3:30am: Over 100 killed in Jenin
8:45am: Israeli forces commit massacre in Jenin refugee camp
5:25pm: 100-150 bodies on camp roads...Doctors shot at...
NABLUS
4:00pm: Dr. Mustafa Barghouti: "We Are Witnessing a Disaster"
Midnight: Humanitarian convoy to Nablus
RAMALLAH
11:50am: Urgent Appeal from the Presidential Headquarters in Ramallah
EYEWITNESS REPORTS FROM INTERNATIONALS IN PALESTINE
4/8/02: Current “Coexistence”: Prayer and Death for Palestinians - Nancy Stohlman in Bethlehem
4/8/02: The IDF Threatened To Shoot Christians Who Wanted to Pray in Church of Nativity - Ben Scribner in Bethlehem
Previous Days Eyewitness Reports: Day 1 - 3/29/02 * Day 2 - 3/30/02 * Day 3 - 3/31/02 * Day 4 - 4/1/02 * Day 5 - 4/2/02 * Day 6 - 4/3/02 * Day 7 - 4/4/02 * Day 8 - 4/5/02 * Day 9 - 4/6/02 * Day 10 - 4/7/02
BETHLEHEM
Noon: From Bethlehem local churches and Organizations: An extremely unprecedented dangerous measure
April 8, 2002
Friends,
It is the first time since the fourth century in which Christians of Faith were prevented from performing the Sunday mass in the Church of nativity. Yesterday April 7, The Israeli occupation forces prevented people of Christian faith from arriving into the Church of Nativity to attend the Sunday service. This unprecedented move from the side of the Israeli occupation forces is an extreme violation to International law and norms.
We strongly condemn this extreme and highly threatening procedure. We as well condemn the siege of the Birth Place of our Lord Jesus Christ. We as well strongly condemn the acts of killings of innocent civilians, the arrestment of hundreds of innocent people, the destruction and vandalizing of the ancient parts of our beloved city. This city of peace, which hoisted many of the world political and religious leaders including his holiness the Pope, during its Bethlehem 2000 celebrations.
Please raise your voices with ours calling for an end to the Israeli occupation. Let us work together to lift the siege and insure that no one will think again of attacking our holy shrines.
Signed by:
The Charitable Antwanian Society
The Orthodox Charitable society-Bethlehem
The Orthodox Charitable society-Beit Sahour
Mar Afram Charitable Society
The Latin Monastery-Bethlehem
Bethlehem International Center.
Dar AlKalemah Academy
The House of the Cardinal
The Arab Orthodox Club-Beit Jala
The Arab Orthodox Club-Beit Sahour
The Latin Monastery-Beit Sahour
The Latin Monastery-Beit Jala
The Roman Catholic Monastery-Bethlehem.
The Roma Catholic Monastery-Beit Sahour
The Roman Catholic Monastery-Beit Jala
The Evangelical Lutheran Church-Bethlehem
The Evangelical Lutheran Church-Beit Sahour
The Evangelical Lutheran Church-Beit Jala
YMCA-Beit Sahour
The Bible College-Bethlehem.
The Catholic work Institute.
The Greek Orthodox Church-Bethlehem
The Greek Orthodox Church-Beit Sahour
The Greek Orthodox Church-Beit Jala
PCR
6:00pm: Israeli Army: Anyone in the Streets will be Shot
April 08, 2002, www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
The Israeli army drives around Bethlehem, warning over loudspeakers that anyone in the streets will be shot. Today curfew was supposed to be lifted from 1300-1700 but was arbitrarily reimposed on the city of Bethlehem at 1500. People mobbed the bakeries and shops desperately trying to stock up on food supplies.
After speaking with people inside the Church of the Nativity, please spread the word and counter Israeli disinformation: The four priests who left the church yesterday did NOT flee. Their exit was coordinated with the IDF and Church and Palestinian negotiators. These four were elderly/ or sick, and the conditions inside were too difficult for them. Their exit was coordinated with the IDF and Church and Palestinian negotiators. Also, the priests and nuns inside are not being held against their will. Indeed, they are tending the wounded and making bread for the men inside the Church.
The Israeli television announced that the IDF has reopened the Negev desert prison - Ketzion/Ansar III. Located in the South-Western part of the Negev desert, this prison held during the first Intifada, 5000-6000 Palestinian administrative detainees. This is where we believe they are taking men from the Bethlehem area as well as surrounding towns such as Ramallah.
9:50pm: Bulldozers rule broken Bethlehem
by RORY MACMILLAN
April 08, 2002, www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
What I saw yesterday, however, is beyond imagination - Israeli bulldozers the size of houses. At the back of them, enormous claws were poised for ripping up streets and buildings to make way for tanks and to destroy the homes of suicide bombers.
THE Israeli army drives around Bethlehem, warning over loudspeakers that anyone in the streets will be shot.
We remain in the hotel - a planned prayer march to the Church of the Nativity with Muslims and Christians has been cancelled - and the University of Bethlehem opposite has become an Israeli army base.
We are hearing reports that the Israeli army is going from home to home in Bethlehem’s suburbs of Beit, Jala and Beit Sahur arresting hundreds of young men. Ahmed, the hotel receptionist and now a good friend, has just heard his cousin has bled to death from a gunshot wound in Jenin Refugee Camp where there has been intense fighting.
On Saturday, for the first time since I arrived here, I could not believe my eyes.
Much of what you see in a war zone is as you would expect - not so different from the television pictures. Of course, the tanks are more sinister close up and simply terrifying when they point their barrels in your direction. You drop to the floor at the sound of gunfire close by. A town under foreign occupation after invasion is as smashed up as you would imagine.
What I saw yesterday, however, is beyond imagination - Israeli bulldozers the size of houses. At the back of them, enormous claws were poised for ripping up streets and buildings to make way for tanks and to destroy the homes of suicide bombers.
Israel’s bulldozers have been central to its relationship with the Palestinians. Olive trees - a Palestinian symbol of life and hope - have been wrenched out of the soil in punishment for suicide bombings and resistance to Israel’s 35-year illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza.
Around broken Bethlehem, water gushes down streets from destroyed mains pipes. Water is also central to this conflict, for the Israeli settlements consume by far the majority of its water, sprinkling the green lawns on the settlements in this arid , occupied land.
We watched President Bush encouraging Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to end the occupation. It seems unlikely to come soon. More Israeli settlements than ever have been built on Palestinian land since the Oslo process began when Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin and Yasser Arafat agreed to work towards peace in 1993.
Building even accelerated under Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon’s predecessor, while he and Yasser Arafat "negotiated peace".
Most Palestinians believe that unless Colin Powell restarts a political process that addresses this entrenched taking of Palestinian land and the grinding humiliation of an entire people at roadblocks, checkpoints and in prisons, it seems unlikely that the bulldozing or the suicide bombs will stop.
JENIN
Jenin, 4/8/02, Al-Jazeera
3:30am: Over 100 killed
in Jenin
April 08, 2002, LAW / Al-Jazeera
LAW, a Palestinan HR organization in Jerusalem and al-Jazeera, the freest media in the Middle East, are reporting over 100 killed in the Jenin refugee camp
URGENT ALERT
PLEASE NOTE: al-Jazeera and LAW are now reporting around 100 killed.
Please call/fax/e-mail your foreign minister, your prime minister, the Israeli ambassador to your country.
This is exactly what Palestinian activists, civil society organizations and human rights groups have feared – a combination of Ariel Sharon, open American support (or impotence), and an international community which refuses to take real steps to protect Palestinian civilians – initial reports are 40 people killed yesterday, and continuing today. Please pass around, please take action
- Note: this is from our sources from the Jenin refugee camp. The usual ways of confirming death tolls (hospitals, doctors) has not taken place. The dead are still lying on the streets.
Ittijah has just received a phone call from the Jenin refugee camp. The following is happening:
Israeli forces are in the Jenin refugee camp. They entered the refugee camp in tanks, simply demolishing everything. As of the time of this phone call, around 250 meters of the refugee camp, including shanty houses, have been destroyed. It is not known if there were people in the houses or not. Women and children were used as human shields for the tanks.
The Israeli army yesterday called upon people to gather in the courtyard of the mosque in the Jenin refugee camp. The refugees in the camp refused, seeing this as surrender, and vowing to protect their camp. Today, refugees who have left the Camp under Israeli fire were made to wear black. They are gathered in a field sealed off with barbed wire next to Salem village, close to the Green Line.
There are Palestinians remaining in the camp who refuse to surrender. According to our sources, they say they will not become refugees again.
The tanks are shooting at people in the street, including those already injured and dead. Israeli forces are still banning ambulances from entering Jenin refugee camp. There are no confirmations yet of how many people are dead or injured, as our source was calling from a mobile phone within the camp. There is a very real possibility that massacres are taking place. According to initial reports at LAW, a Palestinian human rights NGO in Jerusalem, forty residents have so far been killed and their bodies are still lying in the alleys and streets.
The following is from LAW’s report: “Dr. Muhammad Abu Khali, Head of Jenin Hospital, stated that on Saturday April 6, three ambulances were sent to Jenin refugee camp in order to evacuate the wounded but they were attacked by Israeli soldiers. On
Sunday, April 7, Israeli forces rounded up 150 residents and shot two Palestinians, Wadah al-Shalabi (32) and Abdel Karim al-Sa'di (23), in front of the eyes of their own families. LAW managed to identify five of the killed Palestinians: Samer Jaradat (25), Fadi Abu Ara (24), Mustafa al-Shalabi (32), Munir Wishahi (27) and Muhammad al-Hamed (30).
For more information, please call:
Mr. Ameer Makhoul
Director,
Ittijah: Union of Arab Community Based Associations
Mob: +972-(0)54 862 171
Tel: +972-4-850 7110
Fax: +972-4-850 7241
E-mail: ameer@ittijah.org
8:45am: Israeli forces commit massacre in Jenin refugee camp
April 8, 2002 - LAW
Israeli forces, comprising of more than 150 tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery, backed by F-16 fighter jets, continue to attack Jenin refugee camp, home to 15,000 Palestinian refugees, living on one square kilometer. Since April 3, Israeli forces have shelled the refugee camp, with various heavy weaponry, including missiles, artillery, and other heavy ammunition.
Water and electricity networks have been destroyed. Food and medicine supplies are prevented from reaching the refugee camp. Dozens of residents have been killed and injured. Many bodies are left under the rubble of demolished shelters and in the streets and alleyways of the camp.
According to information gathered by LAW from various official medical sources and eye-witnesses in Jenin and the refugee camp, the number of casualties and wounded, including women, children and the aged, is increasing at a frightening rate. Each hour tens of casualties and wounded civilians are reported. Ambulances and medical personnel are not allowed access to the refugee camp and are prevented from evacuating the dead and the wounded. All sources confirmed that for the past four days
no corpse or wounded has reached any hospital or medical center in Jenin.
Paramedics have been unable to provide any medical aid, as they are prevented by the Israeli forces by force. Since Sunday (April 7, 2002) evening 8 o'clock until this moment, tens of Israeli tanks and seven Israeli attack helicopters have continued to
shell the refugee camp with heavy artillery and missiles. In the past 16 hours, more than two hundred missiles and artillery shells have been fired on the refugee camp, killing at least 50 residents. More than 100 residents have been killed in the past three days. Sources have failed to document the exact number of those killed, injured, and missing. Bodies are left in the alleyways and tens of injured have been left bleeding without any medical aid.
Calls received by LAW confirm that throughout yesterday and day, the smell of dead bodies is spreading across the refugee camp. Each minute an injured dies due to the lack of medical attention. Sources confirmed that, since the past 24 hours, the refugee camp has run out of key supplies, including water, food and medical supplies. Sources from the refugee camp have stated that despite calls they have been forced to drink waste water. Quite apart from the food and water crisis, sources,
including Jenin hospital, confirmed that the camp suffers a health crisis. The director of the hospital stated that the capacity of Jenin hospital has been crippled due to the destruction of a number of its services and the continuation of Israeli shelling.
According to LAW, since early morning, tens of Israeli bulldozers are randomly demolishing refugee shelters to make room for Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers to the camp. This has been accompanied by air and surface shelling. Omar Steiti, who works at Jenin hospital and who witnessed the situation in the refugee camp stated that "a massacre or genocide is now taking place in the camp."
LAW condemns these mass killings and attacks on civilians, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, clearly violating the Fourth Geneva Convention, and potentially the Genocide Convention (1948). LAW calls on immediate intervention to end these war crimes.
____________________________
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Federation Internationale des Ligues de Droits de l'Homme (FIDH) and the World Organisation Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, PO Box 20873, Jerusalem, tel. +972-2-5833530, fax.
+972-2-5833317, email: law@lawsociety.org , web: http://www.lawsociety.org
5:25pm: 100-150 bodies on camp roads...Doctors shot at...
April 8, 2002, www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
Several heavy shielded bulldozers of the army digging a wide road 8 - 10 m wide from west to east ..to cut off the camp into two halves.
This is done also with air bombings , hundreds of bombs, from 2 - 7 Cobra and Apatchi helicopters,,each raid…it is still continuing from around 20.00 last night…till now.
The soldiers sometimes withdraw for the helicopters to do the strikes ..this came after the helicopters bombarded a house where soldiers were inside on the assumption that they were Palestinians…the shooting and the bombing is severe and directed towards the houses with much brutality.
More than one third of the camp houses have been destroyed…total destruction….tens of people died in this way.
Health sources from inside the camp.., with witnesses say that dead bodies still in the streets and narrow roads of the camp from 100 - 150.
This the fifth day that ambulances can’t reach to save the injured or the corps….all health workers and representatives are issuing SOS for help through the media..directly..till now no result……on the ground.
In the past 36 hours..only 2 corps and one injured were received by the hospital……this is a proof that what is going as the people there see another bigger intentional massacre than sabra and shatila……
Health situation and living is so much to a degree that people are now drinking from the sewage and eating leaves of trees.
We got now from a witness that hundreds of bodies are under rubles of the houses..the people who saved themselves are gathered in the university.
Families of Shalabi had suffered ..where one soldier killed the son of 34 yrs..then the other soldier exchanged and killed the father of 62 yrs in front of the sons and grandsons..as they want to repeat the experience of deir yasin so that people will flee…but this made the people more firmed of not leaving.
And in the event another two old men -more than 64 yrs-. And one 45 yrs were also shot in front of their families..they are from the families of Sa’adi and Zare’ni.
Doctors said that they were shot at intentionally ..so as to kill as many people ..as the orders of the criminal Sharon.
In these days it is not fair for the victims to make analysis..and if some politicians reading these lines wouldn’t understand what mentality is behind these atrocities…….. then ….humanity and conscious is lost.
NABLUS
Mosque in Nablus, 4/8/02
4:00pm: Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, "We are Witnessing a Disaster"
The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse Nablus Update
8th April 2002 Two or three days ago we reported that in downtown Nablus three injured people were unable
to be moved and were prevented from receiving medical care. Israeli troops today handed three
bodies over to the Palestinians - victims of this barbaric Israeli policy. The crisis in the reoccupied towns in the West Bank is worsening. "We are witnessing a disaster,"
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti said after talking to a field doctor in the besieged city of Nablus. All
ambulances are completely paralysed, and there has been an urgent request for help in the Yasmeen
neighbourhood, as the area has been attacked and shelled all night with people being used as human
shields. This morning the Red Cross arranged with the Israeli military authorities to allow the movement of
4 ambulances - two Red Crescent, one from Medical Relief and one from the UN. However when the
ambulances were moving, Israeli soldiers opened fire on them, destroying the engine of the UN
ambulance. The medical staffs were then removed from the ambulance - all of them then had their
identification confiscated, and were ordered to return to the hospitals and not to move again. This brings the total number of times ambulances have been shot in the latest Israeli violence in
Nablus, to eight. Thus far 39 people are reported to have died - but we cannot confirm this because
more of the injured may have died because of lack of medical treatment, and also because no one
can get out and find the bodies. Additionally 100s of people are known to have been injured from
the attacks, many of who may die because of not being able to receive medical care. For more information contact Juliana at the Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 5834021 or +972 (0)2 5833510
www.palestinemonitor.org
Midnight: Humanitarian convoy to Nablus
April 08, 2002, www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
A humanitarian convoy is rolling to Nablus, but has been stripped from all Press by the IDF
A humanitarian convoy of 12 cars and 3 trucks left this morning early from Jerusalem to Nablus. Several humanitarian NGOs are escorting 3 trucks of medications. Some representants of the French General Consulate are on the convoy, as well as some reporters and TV crews.
At one of the last check points before Nablus, the convoy has been stripped of every press representant, but was allowed to proceed to Nablus.
Organizations present in the convoy include :
OXFAM - World Vision - Medecins Du Monde - Lutheran World Federation - Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) - PNGO - Save The Children.
They are right now proceeding to Nablus, escorted by IDF vehicules
RAMALLAH
11:50am: Urgent Appeal from the Presidential Headquarters in Ramallah
April 8th, 2002, www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
Save Jenin and Nablus
Urgent appeal for an international awareness of the need to take an immediate action!
We, members of a civil mission for the protection of Palestinian people, are presently in President’s Arafat Palace in Ramallah.
We are currently subjected, as are all the habitants of Ramallah and the Palestinian autonomic zones, to a siege of unprecedented violence by the Israeli Army. Our greatest suffering today is not our catastrophic unsanitary situation, but the terrible fate reserved for the populations in Jenin and Nablus. The occupation army, violating all the Geneva conventions and all moral principles, is systematically massacring the population; civilians as well as resistants are arbitrarily being assassinated. The Israeli Army prevents all medical assistance to the wounded, and shoots at ambulances and health workers. The Israeli government seeks to criminalize the right to resist, although that right is legitimized by international law. We issue an urgent appeal to all populations of the world, to their governments and international organizations: In the face of the Israeli government’s ruthless efforts to exterminate the Palestinian people and their identity, and in this situation of denial of human dignity, you can not remain immobilized. Before the massacre is completed, and under the threat of being condemned by history, make the Israeli government accountable for its actions.
Force it to stop immediately the massacre
Save lives
The 40 internationals in the Presidential Palace in Ramallah
SUMMARIES
5:35pm: Palestine Red Crescent Society Invasion Update
April 08, 2002, www.palestinercs.org
-For the 4th day in a row, PRCS has not been able to reach areas of reported heavy deaths and casualties in both Jenin and Nablus. We remain concerned as to the plight and well being of hundreds. The Israeli army figures for Palestinian deaths and injured at many fold higher than PRCS is able to confirm. This clearly points to a critical situation in which medical and ambulance teams need to access
-PRCS reiterates high risk of epidemics in Ramallah area
-3 PRCS medics remain in detention.
-Many families are calling PRCS with missing persons reports.
-ICRC operations remain restricted. PRCS work on top urgent cases only. All relief operations suspended.
- Deaths: 119** [Friday 29/03/02 – 5 deaths, Saturday 30/03/02 – 8 deaths, Sunday 31/03/02 - 2 deaths, Monday 01/04/02- 4, Tuesday 02/04/02 - 10, Wednesday 03/04/02 11, Thursday 04/04/02 – 7, Friday 05/04/02 – 29, Saturday 06/04/02 – 15, Sunday 07/04/02 – 16, Monday 08/04/02 - 7]. Palestine.
- Injuries: 239+** [Friday 29/03/02 – 35 injuries, Saturday 30/03/02 – 17 injuries, Sunday 31/04/02– 8 injuries, Monday 01/04/02- 0, Tuesday 02/04/02- 3, Wednesday 03/04/02 30, Thursday 04/04/02 – 27, Friday 05/05/02 – 35, Saturday 06/04/02 – 39, Sunday 07/04/02 – 24, Monday 08/04/02 - 5]. Palestine.
**Deaths and Injuries may be higher as PRCS has not been granted access to all areas. (Israeli army reported on Apr 8th over 200 deaths, and over 1,500 injuries)
West Bank:
1. Curfew lifted for several hours in some cities so people could get desperately needed supplies. Supermarkets shelves are largely empty with no possibility of restocking.
2. Frequent loss of telephone and radio contact with the PRCS Branches in the West Bank, sometimes for hours as at time. Nablus and Jenin communications are only via wireless radio.
3. Cities of Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqilia, Hebron (Yatta) & Tobas reporting similar problems as in Ramallah. Similar disaster evolution expected over coming days.
4. PRCS attempting to cope with flood of calls for medicines, food, water and evacuation from families and household.
5. Ambulances remain not able to access the sick and injured. Additionally, ambulances have been prevented from evacuating the bodies of the dead.
6. Seven PRCS ambulances destroyed or damaged beyond repair since Mar 29th
7. Three PRCS medics and doctors remain in detention.
8. Destruction of road, water, electricity, telephone networks in major cities.
9. PRCS has to-date documented Three cases in which paramedics were used as human shields by the Israeli Army (Mar 30 and Apr 2 in Ramallah, and Apr 6th in Nalbus)
10. Over one million people under curfew.
11. Humanitarian situation approaching catastrophic proportions.
12. 24-hour Hotline for medical and psychological consultation.
Ramallah:
1. Three PRCS staff members who were detained by Israeli Army Saturday 31/03/02 were released today 08/04/02. One ambulance member from Ramallah and two other PRCS employees remain detained.
2. Two deaths were found in a building in Ramallah that have been there since the beginning of the invasion 10 days ago.
3. Tanks move towards villages north of Ramallah (Sinjel, Manzare Nabani, Ataro, Tireh).
4. Four persons from electric company arrested 07/04/02.
5. Invasion and curfew impossed on villages surrounding Ramallah (Beit Rima, Dir Ghasaneh and Banizaid).
6. Israeli Forces exploded two doors at the PRCS Academy, entered and left at 1740 hrs (06/04/02).
7. 60 persons, among them children, desperately need water, food and milk.
8. One EMT arrested on 02/04/02 recounts his experience of a mock execution with two bullets being fired inches from his head while detained.
9. Two PRCS medics in Ramallah thrown out of ambulance and beaten.
10. PRCS maternity hospital in Ramallah/Al-Bireh raided by Israeli soldiers. Two doctors, two nurses and hospital worker blindfolded and taken away by Israeli army. Ramallah shortages of water (65%), electricity (50%).
11. Serious public health hazard exists in Ramallah due to destruction of city infrastructure, water shortages, interruption of garbage collection, and no access to medical care.
12. Hundreds of calls have been received for food and medicine relief from families and households.
13. Ambulances operating for top-urgent cases only with coordination.
14. Ambulance teams continue to be attacked and harassed.
15. Hotline for medical consultations acting to back up ambulances.
16. Hundreds of detainees are being released in the midst of curfew and are unable to reach homes.
Bethlehem:
1. Israeli Army tried to enter the Nativity Church at 0600 hrs. A fire began in the early morning and continues at this time, 1 death reported (unable to evacuate).
2. Ambulances are not able to reach Manger Square but are operating for urgent cases within the city with ICRC coordination when possible.
3. All of Bethlehem is under siege and curfew.
4. There is still no movement in Manger Square.
5. ICRC escorting electricity and water repair teams.
6. Three PRCS ambulances have been destroyed.
7. Full Invasion of Bethlehem occurred Tuesday morning.
8. Loss of telephone 101 ambulance line in Bethlehem.
9. One ambulance has been completely crushed by a tank.
10. Half the city remains without electricity.
Jenin:
1. The situation in Jenin is critical and deteriorating at an alarming rate – shelling of the camp continues at this time.
2. Over 35 rockets fired by helicopter into Jenin Camp from 0100 – 0700 hrs (08/04/02).
3. Reports of women and children being gathered from their homes into the center of the camp and their homes demolished.
4. The injured in the camp are reportedly drinking urine instead of water. There is no electricity or water in the Camp.
5. At approximately 1400 hrs a PRCS ambulance accompanied by ICRC attempted to enter the camp. They were denied access but found three injuries and on e death at the entrance to the camp. They were permitted to treat the injured but denied permission to evacuate them to hospital. As no access to the camp has been granted the total number of dead and injured cannot be confirmed – though it is reportedly very high.
6. UNRWA clinic raided by Israeli Forces.
7. Heavy shelling continues.
8. Ambulances are operating only with coordination that is not always granted.
9. On Sunday morning a rocket was shot inside a home with 12 people inside. No ambulance was permitted to enter the scene.
10. Critical situation with many injured and dead lying in the streets. Hosiptal and ambulance staff are still unable to access Jenin Camp.
11. Lack of gasoline for ambulances.
12. Calls indicating a lack of water, electricity, food and milk.
13. PRCS totally disabled with shelling and heavy gunfire directed towards ambulances.
14. Shelling and surrounding of Jenin Ministry of Health Hospital.
15. City was invaded at 0300 hrs Wednesday.
16. Areas of the city without electricity and water at this time.
Tulkarem:
1. The situation is relatively calm with curfew and siege continuing.
2. PRCS Ambulances only operating with coordination at this time.
3. Israeli Army takes PRCS EMS station as protection (06/04/02) – firing continues in the area.
4. Four PRCS ambulances and two Red Cross vehicles destroyed.
5. The city was invaded Monday morning and is under complete siege and curfew.
6. Schools and institutions are being used as prisons and military camps.
7. A PRCS ambulance was stopped Thursday by the Israeli Army, the staff were detained and subsequently released.
8. Many areas are without water and electricity.
Nablus:
1. Field Hospital set up Sunday (08/04/02).
2. The Israeli Army tried to invade a field hospital but doctors at the scene prevented them from entering. The Israeli Army asked for an ambulance from ICRC to remove victims (08/04/02).
3. Fourteen deaths reported in Nablus Sunday (07/04/02).
4. Ambulances are only responding to top urgent cases.
5. Three ambulances and their teams were detained Saturday (06/04/02) on the main street.
6. At 1400 hrs (06/04/02), four ambulance staff members were detained and released after half an hour.
7. Shooting towards ambulances was reported this morning.
8. Old City of Nablus continues to be under shelling.
9. Nablus ambulance station blockaded continuously by passing Israeli tanks. Ambulances not permitted to move. Ambulances not moving without coordination and only when the road is temporarily clear of the Israeli Army.
10. City continues to be surrounded by Israeli forces.
Qalqilia:
1. Curfew and Siege continues at this time.
2. In coordination with ICRC, the prcs transported two detainees from Nablus to Qalqilia Hospital at 0300 hrs (08/04/02).
3. Escorts are being provided for electricity and water repairs.
4. Qalqilia remains under siege and curfew. Electricity cut in some areas.
Hebron:
1. No water or electricity in Yatta/Hebron.
2. People are able to move around the city at this time.
3. Israeli Forces destroyed the Preventative Security building in Hebron.
4. Complete invasion and curfew in Yatta and Fawar (Hebron).
5. Mosque raided and Intelligence and National Guard Building in Yatta surrounded.
6. Israeli Army occupied that PRCS EMS station preventing medical teams from leaving. Some PRCS ambulances are currently at Nasser Hospital.
7. Israeli Army has occupied the Municipality building and the Islamic Society building.
8. Hebron sent one PRCS ambulance to Bethlehem Friday.
9. Shelling of city occurred Thursday.
Tubas:
1. Invasion at 24:00 hrs on Friday.
2. Heavy shelling and crossfire continues.
3. Ambulances operating at high risk.
4. Curfew and siege continues. Gaza Strip:
1. Scattered clashes throughout the Gaza Strip.
2. Clashes began in Rafah Saturday (06/04/02).
3. Israeli Army massing around Rafah, Khan Younis, Karni and Erez.
4. The Gaza Strip is under complete closure and has been internally divided into four sections.
++++++++++++++++++++++++ For further information, please email PressOffice@P... or call 972-57-706-750
Ms. Abeer Mosleh or Dr. Hossam Sharkawi.
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