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CONTENTS

Child fatality figures

Case summaries

In the spotlight

Violations Bulletin January 2012 

On 7 January 2012, DCI-Palestine

interviewed the mother of two children

who were victims of an Israeli airstrike

in Gaza on 9 December 2012. Nine-

year old Ramadan was instantly killed

along with his father, and his brother,

eight-year old Yousif was severely

injured. One month later, Yousif is still in

a critical condition and so far has only

been able to move one leg.

Since the end of Operation Cast Lead

in January 2009, DCI - Palestine has

documented the cases of 53 children

killed and 112 injured as a result of

Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

On 8 January 2012, a 12-year-old boy

January 2012 - Overview

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

  Eight-year-old boy injured by

Israeli airstrike in Gaza inDecember still in critical

condition

  12-year-old boy attacked by

settler for the second time

  Two children injured by UXOs

was beaten outside his home

the same settler who attacked h

the year before in Hebron. T

settler pushed Ibrahim and th

repeatedly punched him. Wh

Ibrahim’s father came out of

house, approximately 10 Isra

soldiers came to the scene and

settler ran into a nearby house

the previous 12 months, DCI

documented 32 cases in wh

children have been attacked

settlers.

Finally, on 20 January two child

were injured by unexplod

ordnance while grazing sheep i

rural area south of Hebron.

RECENT REPORTS

  The Guardian  - UK raises

concerns over Israel's

treatment of Palestinian

children

  The Guardian  - The

Palestinian children  –  alone

and bewildered – in Israel's Al

Jalame jail

  The Sydney Morning Herald  –  Palestinians live in fear for 

their lives as two-state

solution hopes fade 

  The Independent - EU 'should

block finance for Israeli

settlements'

Page 1 DCI-Palestine ● Violations Bulletin, Issue 16 ● January 20

Number of Palestinian children killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the OPT

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011  TO

94 98 192 130 162 52 124 50 112 315 8 15 1

 Armed Israeli settlers walk in Hebron, West Bank – December 2011. Picture Credit: DCI 

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Name: Yousif Z.

Date of incident: 9 December 2011

Age: 8

Location: Gaza City 

Nature of incident: Injured in airstrike

On 9 December 2011, a nine-year-old boy was killed when his house was h

an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. His eight-year-old brother Yousif was seve

injured in the incident and is still critically ill in hospital.Yousif used to live in Gaza City, near a Hamas

affiliated training camp. On the night of 9

December 2011, an Israeli air-strike destroyed

the family home and killed Yousif’s father and

nine-year-old brother Ramadan. Yousif was

seriously injured, and was transferred to a

hospital in Israel for treatment.

Sa’da, Yousif’s mother, learned about the

deaths of her husband and son the morning

after the bombing, while she was being

treated in hospital. “They told me my husband

had been killed,” she recalls.

“Later that day, in the after noon, they told me Ramadan had died. I still

not asked about Yousif. I was scared of what I might hear. Then, the doc

said he was in a critical condition and they needed to transfer him to Israe

further treatment.” She was told he would be transferred within a day

people came to pay their respects for the death of her husband and son,

waited for news of Yousif. “I was in shock. I couldn’t believe I had lost two o

family on the same day.”

The next day, Sa’da went to see Yousif in the hospital before his transfe

arrived at Shifa Hospital and saw him hooked up to a breathing machine

eyes were closed. He didn’t move. He couldn’t feel anything… I went b

home to my father-in-law’s house because my house had been levelled to

ground in the bombing. I had no home. I had no husband. I sat in a room

people around me talking to me, but I did not know what they were saying.

During the ten days Yousif was in the Israeli hospital, Sa’da phoned consta

for news. “All I could do was to call and ask if he was still alive, and whethe

had moved his legs or arms, or he had opened his eyes.” On 20 December

was told the Palestinian Authority had no more money to pay for his treatm

and that Yousif would come back to Gaza the following day. He was brou

to Shifa Hospital by ambulance. “I saw him very briefly before he was rushe

the intensive care unit,” she says. “He was the same as when I had seen him

days before, breathing through a ventilator. His eyes were closed. He d

move a muscle. I asked his aunt and she said that the doctors were saying his brain cells had been damaged and his brain was shrinking due of lac

oxygen.” 

Three days later, Sa’da was told that he had moved his left leg, and then

he was able to breathe without the ventilator. Speaking to DCI on 7 Jan

2012, Sa’da says: “I still feel excited whenever he opens his eyes and look

me. But now I think of other things too, like what’s going to happen next

treatment, his condition, is he going back to school? Is he going to h

friends? Is he going to run in the house? Is he going to grow up? What’s goin

happen to him? I mean, he cannot spend his whole life in bed, unable to m

and do anything. I do not know what’s   going to happen to him… I swea

God I would sell my house, if I had one, so that I pay for his treatment.” 

VOICES FROM THE OCCUPATION

  Voices  – Settler Violence 

  Voices  – Fatality 

  Voices - Fatality 

  Voices  – Injuries 

  Voices  – Settler/soldier violence 

  Voices  – Settler/soldier violence 

  Voices  – Injuries - Gaza border  

  Voices  – Settler violence 

  Voices - Injuries 

  Voices - Injuries   Voices  – Fatalities -Gaza

  Voices - Settler Violence

  Voices  – Injuries-Gaza Border 

  Voices  – Settler Violence

  Voices - Settler Violence

URGENT APPEALS

UA 1/12  –  Solitary confinement 

UA 3/11  –  Settler violence

UA 4/10  – Children of the Gravel 

MEDIA ARCHIVE

  The Guardian  –  Videos on EastJerusalem

  The Independent  - Jewish

settlers are terrorising

Palestinians, says Israeli general

  IRIN  - Growing number of

children with anxiety disorders

  AlertNet   –  Children of the

Gravel

  The Independent  – Stories from

the Old City: We are not living

like human beings 

  The Australian   –  Stone cold justice 

  The Australian  - Rudd seeks

action on torture allegations

involving Palestinian children

  The Huffington Post   –  Israel

Release 55 But 106 Palestinian

Children Remain in Jail as

Shackling Continues

Case studies

Page 2 DCI-Palestine ● Violations Bulletin, Issue 16 ● January 201

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Lawyers and fieldworkers for DCI-

Palestine collect sworn affidavits from

victims and/or eye witnesses of human

rights violations against Palestinian

children. These affidavits are reviewed

by trained staff to determine

appropriate follow up action.

Additional case summaries are

available on request. For further 

information contact us through our 

website: www.dci-palestine.org 

Page 2Page 3 DCI-Palestine ● Violations Bulletin, Issue 16 ● January 2012 

Name: Ibrahim A.

Date of incident: 8 January 2012

Age: 12

Location: Hebron, occupied West Bank  

Nature of incident: Settler attack 

On 8 January 2012, a 12-year-old boy is beaten by the same settler w

attacked him the year before as he walks home from school.

Ibrahim lives in the neighbourhood of

Tel Rumeida, in Hebron City. “Our 

house is about six metres away fromthe settlement of Ramat Yishai,"

Ibrahim explains. “An Israeli military

camp is located next to our home,

and there are more settler houses

behind that. There is a gate and an

observation tower leading to the

settlement seven metres from our 

house.”  To access his home, Ibrahim

has to pass through this gate. “Any

Palestinian going through the gate is

stopped, questioned and their IDs are

checked,” he adds. 

On the morning of 8 January 2012, Ibrahim had a school exam, after whic

he was free to go home. “At 10:00 am,” he recalls, “I was about 10 metr

away from the gate, and there was a settler walking about two metr

ahead of me. He was wearing a blue kippah (a head cap worn by orthod

Jews), grey trousers and a jacket. He was of average height with short bla

hair. He kept looking back at me as we walked.”

As usual, Ibrahim was stopped by a soldier at the gate and asked where

was going. When Ibrahim answered that he was going home, the sett

intervened. “The settler told the soldier in Hebrew that I didn’t live there,

the soldier asked me again where I was going. I again told him I was goin

home and who I was.” Ibrahim was allowed to pass and headed towards home, but the settler followed him. “I was just outside my house when t

settler pushed me hard against our front door,” he recalls. Then, “he grabb

me by my left arm and started punching me. He kept punching me hard f

about one minute, which hurt a lot.” 

“This very settler beat me in the same place about a year ago,” Ibrahim sa

“but this time it was worse. He was shouting something in Hebrew at me. M

father heard him and rushed out of the house.” As soon as Ibrahim’s fath

appeared, “10 Israeli soldiers arrived and the settler ran into a settler buildi

about five metres away. One of the soldiers pushed me hard and my fath

started arguing with them in Hebrew and Arabic. He asked them why th

did not catch the settler, and blamed them for letting him run away. One

them answered him in Hebrew but I did not understand what he saAnother soldier kept ordering us to go inside.” 

Ibrahim’s father “immediately called a local human rights organisation a

the Israeli police, but the police did not answer.” To file a complaint with t

Israeli police, Ibrahim had to enter the settlement of Kiryat Arba later th

day. Speaking to DCI the next day, Ibrahim reports, “The attack caused som

bruises, but I didn’t feel it needed medical attention.” 

DCI has documented three cases of settler violence in Tel Rumeida since

December 2011. According to the Israeli rights group, B’tselem, “the settlers

Tel Rumeida, are known to be particularly extreme.”

For information on settler violence

against Palestinian children read: 

Under Attack: Settler Violence

against Palestinian Children in the

Occupied Palestinian Territory 

***

For information on Palestinian Child

Prisoners read:  In their own words:

  A report on the situation facing

Palestinian children detained in

the Israeli military court system

(January 2012) 

***

For information on the situation of

children in East Jerusalem read:Voices from East Jerusalem: The

Situation facing Palestinian Children.