As the world is fixed on Iraq and the expected war in the region, Israeli troops are escalating their attacks against the Palestinians; invading, demolishing, shelling and killing a dozen Palestinians at a time including women and children. Since the start of the New Year, more than 150 Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops during incursions into Palestinian residential areas, towns, cities and refugee camps.

Early Sunday, Israeli troops invaded Khan Younis in Gaza killing four Palestinians including a 9-year-old boy. A Palestinian mother, Azeeza Alkaseer, who was completely paralyzed during an Israeli invasion in October, 2002, when her house was demolished on top of her also passed away this Sunday.

On Monday, hundreds of tanks backed by Apache helicopters invaded Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Israeli troops killing 8 residents of the refugee camp including two boys, ages 13 and 16, and a 33-year-old woman, Sabri Swaidat, who was in her ninth month of pregnancy. Ms. Swaidat was killed when her house collapsed on her during the demolition of a nearby building, doctors and her family said. Six other family members were injured, including the woman's husband and two of her sons. Israelis have escalated their attacks against Gaza killing more than 100 residents of the strip in just the past two months.

With the new Israeli right-wing coalition government, which fervently opposes an independent Palestinian state and is keen on expanding illegal settlement activities, the situation is only expected to get worse. As all eyes are focused on Iraq, the Palestinians are expecting more incursions, destruction, assassinations and crimes to be committed against them as they remain living in captivity in what has been described as the most densely populated areas, Gaza and the West Bank. While the American government continues to turn a blind-eye to the Israeli war crimes treating Israel as a state above the law, the Israelis are bent on exploiting and pre-empting any future hope for peace or the emergence of an independent Palestinian state.

Here are the names and ages of the 12 latest victims of Israel’s military occupation: 9-year-old Abd ElRahman Jadallah, 13-year-old Tarek Akel, 16-year-old Fadi ElHawajri, 33-year-old Sabri Swaidat (pregnant), 50-year-old Azeeza Alkaseer, 50-year-old Abed Rabbo ElSar, 25-year-old Mohammad Abd ElHadi, Maher AlRifaee, Walid ElKhateeb and Motasim AlAkl and 22-year-old Mohammad AlBableh.

We call on the international community to hold Israel responsible and accountable in accordance to international and humanitarian law. We emphasize the importance of sending international monitors to protect the Palestinians from the ruthless Israeli attacks, which are only expected to increase in light of the new right-wing Israeli government and the world’s seemingly undivided attention on Iraq. The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of a Global Dialogue and Democracy strongly condemns the Israeli escalations. We urge the world to apply the same standards to all international law violators through breaking the silence and speaking out against the occupation and human rights violations taking place on a daily basis in the occupied Palestinian territories.