As the Al-Aqsa Intifada entered its fifth year on 29 September 2004, accompanied by thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of injuries, and the demolition of hundreds of houses, the Israeli occupation forces markedly intensified their grave violations against the rights of Palestinian civilians. On 28 September 2004, following the killing of several Israeli settlers and soldiers, large forces from the Israeli occupation army, with heavy artillery and supported by helicopters, penetrated wide areas of the northern Gaza Strip in a far-reaching operation called “Days of Penitence.” According to the claims of Israeli officials, the objective was to stop missile shells from being fired toward Israeli settlements and cities from Palestinian areas.

This operation has been marked by overreaction and excessive use of force, resulting in the deaths of 51 citizens, among them 18 children; more than 270 injuries; the destruction of scores of homes; and the bulldozing of wide swaths of agricultural land. In addition, telephone, electricity, and water grids have been destroyed in the area of the northern Gaza Strip. Further, the occupation forces targeted ambulances and medical personnel, injuring two of them and preventing them from reaching the wounded to administer first aid and to transport them to hospitals for treatment. Members of the Israeli forces also occupied houses, expelled the inhabitants, and took over the rooftops, transforming them into lookout posts from which to target citizens with sniper fire.

The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights strongly condemns the excessive use of force in the northern Gaza Strip, which has endangered the lives of Palestinian civilians, particularly as it taking place in the most crowded areas of the Palestinian territories. PICCR thus calls on the international community to stand up to those who are legally and morally responsible, first by promptly and actively intervening to stop Israel from acting in contravention of the provisions of international humanitarian law; particularly with regards to the excessive and disproportionate use of force, and to oblige Israel to respect the provisions of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War. This is to prevent escalation of the situation to such an extent that it could lead to collective massacres of the Palestinian people.

The Israeli army's actions in the northern Gaza Strip are a continuation of the campaigns of invasion and destruction that it has conducted in the West Bank, obliterating the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people, and preventing life from returning to normal. The continuation of the Israeli campaign in the Gaza Strip could, in itself, inflame the burning conflict and delay opportunities for reaching just, acceptable settlements in the future.