Gaza Death Zone: Israelis and Egyptians Are Killing Palestinian Youth Who Challenge the Siege of Gaza

The Palestinians in the Death Zone called
Gaza are being slaughtered again as Israel and now Egypt kill and wound
more innocent civilians who challenge their illegal siege, blockade and
quarantine.

In the past four days, one
young Palestinian man has been killed and two young women and a young
man have been wounded by Israeli snipers as they protested the Israeli
bulldozing of 300 meters of Palestinian land into an Israeli "buffer
zone." Four young Palestinian tunnel workers have been
killed by suffocation and 6 injured as Egypt sprayed a crowd disbursal
gas into a tunnel.

Death in the Tunnels from Egyptian Gas and
from Israeli Bombs

According to an Associated Press report yesterday, on April 28, four young Palestinian men
who work as tunnel diggers were
killed by suffocation by some type of crowd control gas sprayed into
one tunnel by Egyptian authorities. Six other tunnel workers were
seriously injured by the gas.

Other Palestinian tunnel workers have been
killed in tunnels that collapse from Israeli aerial bombings and from
contact with electrical wires that run the length of the tunnels that
power an underground lighting system.

According to the Mezan Center, a Gaza Human
Rights organization, five Palestinian men have died in tunnel collapses
in 2010. In 2009-2010, Israeli aerial strafing killed 10 Palestinians in
the tunnels. A total of 141 have died in the tunnels and
353 have been injured, including 4 children.

Gaza's official border
crossings have been closed by Israel and Egypt since 2007
when Hamas, considered a "terrorist organization" by Israel and the
United States, seized control of Gaza following a Parliamentary election
in 2006 in which Hamas won sufficient seats to control the Parliament.

The tunnels underneath the border with Egypt
are the lifeline that provide a means of getting food and materials into
Gaza since the Israeli blockade prohibits all but 44 items to come into
Gaza. The Israelis maintain that the tunnels are used to
bring weapons into Gaza that are used against Israeli forces.

Egypt has cracked down on movement of
materials through the tunnels in recent months. Egyptian
authorities have blown up numerous tunnel entrances and set up
checkpoints in the area around Rafah, Egypt and confiscated materials
destined for the tunnels. With the assistance of the United States,
since December, 2009, Egypt has been building an underground steel wall
to block the tunnels. About four miles of the underground wall is
complete with another four miles to go to completely cut off the
tunnels.

Once the underground steel wall is
complete, the suffocation of the people of Gaza will begin in earnest,
unless international citizen pressure forces Israel, Egypt, the United
States and European Union countries to stop the collective punishment of
the people of Gaza through this illegal blockade.

Death and Injury of Palestinians and
Internationals by Israeli Shooting During Protests of the Taking of 20%
of Arable Gaza Land for an Israeli "Buffer Zone"

On Wednesday, April 28, 2010, Ahmed Salem Deeb was shot and killed by an
Israeli sniper during protests against the Israeli military bulldozing
of Palestinian farming lands in a 300 meter zone in Gaza that Israel
calls a "buffer zone," and a no-go zone for Palestinians.

Up to 20 per cent of Gaza's arable land is inaccessible
to Palestinian farmers because it is now in the new "no-go" area. The Israeli "shoot to kill" policy is implemented
in this zone in Palestinian territory. Palestinians have
been shot by Israeli snipers as far as 2 kilometers away from the
border.

According to Max Ajl, a reporter who was
at the protest, Ahmed died from a severed femoral artery from a
hollow-tip bullet that had ruptured the middle of his thigh, shredding
it. The doctor at al Shifa hospital in Gaza City said
Ahmed died of shock and blood loss.

Four days before Ahmed's death, on Friday,
April 24, 2010 at a peaceful, non-violent demonstration at El Maghazi, Deir Al
Balah, Gaza, against the Israeli "buffer
zone," three people were shot by Israeli military snipers.

Nidal Al Naji (18) was shot
in his right thigh. Hind Al Akra (22) was shot in the
stomach and had to undergo emergency surgery. Bianca Zammit (28), a
member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was shot in her
left thigh as she was filming the protest.

During the events of April 24,
approximately 20 Palestinians had gone to the "buffer zone." Several
carried Palestinian flags as a part of continuing demonstrations against
the illegal action by Israel to create a 300 meter buffer zone in
Palestinian land and declare it off limits to Palestinians.

Those who enter into the border area go
there to gather rubble and steel for rebuilding homes, schools and
clinics. 6,400 homes were destroyed or severely damaged
and 53,000 other homes sustained lesser damage in the 22 day Israeli
attack in 2009 on Gaza that killed 1440, wounded 5,000 and left 50,000
homeless. The Israeli siege on Gaza has prevented
construction materials from entering Gaza making the damaged
construction materials found along the border area vital to the modest
rebuilding efforts.

Prior to the April 24 incident, in late March, a Palestinian
teenager was killed and 12 people were wounded, including children, as
Israeli troops opened fire east of Khan Younis at "Land Day"
demonstrators near the Gaza border.

2 Israeli soldiers and 4 Palestinians killed in
Gunfight in March, 2010

On
March 26, 2010, two Israeli soldiers were killed inside Gaza during an
exchange of fire with Palestinians who the Israeli military said were
planting explosives along the security barrier on the Israel-Gaza
border. Two Palestinians were killed in that incident and two others
later the same day. It was the first time an Israeli soldier had been
killed in Gaza since January 27, 2009, the end of the 22 day Israeli
attack on Gaza.

Also
on March 26, 2009, Israeli ground forces backed by tanks and helicopter
gunships fired at Palestinians in a sparsely populated border area near
the city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military said the
action was a "routine defensive operation meant to protect southern
Israel from militants who attack it with rockets and explosives."
Gaza medical authorities reported that eight civilians were
injured in the fighting, including three hurt in an aerial attack.

In 8 years, from September 2000-December 2008, 4860
Palestinians Killed by Israelis; 972 Israelis Killed by Palestinians

According to the Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem,
in the eight years from September 29, 2000 to December 27, 2008, 4791
Palestinians were killed in the Occupied Territories by Israeli Security
forces (3,000 in Gaza, 1791 in the West Bank) and 69 Palestinians were
killed in Israel by Israeli Security Forces.

During the same period, 245 Israeli security force personnel were killed by
Palestinians in the Occupied Territories (97 in Gaza and 148 in the West
Bank) and 90 Israeli security forces were killed by Palestinians in
Israel. 237 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians
(39 in Gaza and 198 in the West Bank). During the same
period, 490 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians in Israel.

In 22 day attack by Israelis on Gaza in December, 2008
and January, 2009, 1417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis Were Killed

During the 22 day Israeli attack on Gaza from December
27, 2008 until January 18, 2009, between 1,166 and 1,417 Palestinians (first figure is from the IDF and
the second from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights) were killed.
PCHR reports that this figure includes 960 civilians, including 288 children and 121 women
and 239 police officers.

13 Israelis were killed during the 22 day
period, 10 soldiers and 3 civilians. 5 of 10 Israeli soldiers were
killed by friendly fire from other Israeli soldiers.

Deaths and Injuries of International
Solidarity Movement volunteers

Bianca Zammit, who was wounded on April
24, 2010, arrived in Gaza in May, 2009, as one of 65 delegates from 10
countries who travelled to Gaza in a trip organized by CODEPINK: Women
for Peace. Bianca, from Malta, wanted to go
to Gaza to work with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a
group of women and men from around the world who attempt to protect, by
their international presence, Palestinians in Gaza and the Occupied
Territories as they work in their agricultural fields, as they tend
their sheep and goats and as they protect their homes from demolition by
Israeli military bulldozers.

Bianca was shot as she was filming
Palestinians as they walked in to the newly razed Palestinian land.
Through her camera, Bianca was documenting what is happening in Gaza,
documentation which the Israeli military apparently considered a threat
to their security.

Several international solidarity
workers have been injured and killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza and the
West Bank. On April 23, 2010, an Israeli activist
protesting in solidarity with Palestinians in B'ilin, West Bank,
suffered a broken skull and a brain hemorrhage after Israeli soldiers
shot him directly with a tear gas projectile that hit his forehead at
B'ilin.

On March 13, 2009, American ISM
volunteer Tristan Anderson was critically wounded by a tear gas canister
fired by Israeli soldiers near Nil'in. On September 6,
2007, ISM volunteer Akram Ibrahim abu Sba was killed by members of
Islamic Jihad in Jenin.

On April 11, 2003, American ISM
volunteer Brian Avery was shot in the face and permanently disfigured by
machine gunfire from an IDF armored personnel carrier while he was
escorting Palestinian medical personnel in the street. On
April 11, 2003, British ISM volunteer Thomas Hurndall was left
clinically brain dead after he was shot in the head by an IDF soldier.
Hurndall died in January, 2004.

On March 16, 2003, American ISM
volunteer Rachel Corrie was killed as an IDF bulldozer ran over her as
she attempted to block the destruction of a home in Rafah, Gaza.

Caoimhe Butterly, an Irish ISM
volunteer was shot by an IDF soldier in Jenin shortly before UNRWA
relief works project manager, British citizen Iain Hook was killed by
Israeli military gunfire.

On April 2, 2002, Australian ISM
volunteer Kate Edwards received severe internal injuries from Israeli
shooting during a protest in Beit Jala. On November 22,
2002.

People of Conscience Demand an End
to the Killing and to the Siege of Gaza

People of conscience around the world
demand that Israel, Egypt, the United States and European Union
countries stop their illegal siege of Gaza and their collective
punishment of the Palestinians of Gaza.

People of conscience demand that the
Israeli military stop taking Palestinian land to create their own buffer
zone and stop shooting at Palestinians who are telling Israel to end
the illegal seizure of Palestinian land.

People of conscience demand that soldiers
who shoot unarmed civilians be held accountable for these crimes.

People of conscience call on President
Barack Obama to withhold funding (over $3 Billion each
year) from Israel until these unlawful and illegal actions of the
Israeli military forces and the Israeli government end.