Since June 2007, Egyptian border guards have killed at least 32 African migrants trying to cross into Israel, and Israel has forcibly returned at least 139 border crossers to Egypt, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Egypt has detained those returned, not revealed their whereabouts, and reportedly deported some to their home [...]

Tags: Egypt, Israel, UN

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Amnesty International urges the Israeli authorities to allow the immediate passage of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and fuel to the Gaza Strip, where the situation is nothing short of a disaster.
“Israel’s latest tightening of its blockade has made an already dire humanitarian situation markedly worse. This is nothing short of collective punishment on Gaza’s civilian [...]

Tags: Israel, Palestine, UN

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The British head of the UN Mine Action Programme in southern Lebanon and his 990-member team of mine clearers will receive the 2008 Nansen Refugee Award for their courageous work in removing tonnes of deadly munitions that had prevented the safe return of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres [...]

Tags: Israel, Lebanon, UN

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Human rights activists on-board a Palestinian fishing boat have filmed the Israeli navy firing machine guns at unarmed Palestinian fishing boats in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip.
“When at a distance, estimated by our fishing boat’s captain, of 7 nautical miles from the coast, we dropped our fishing nets and started [...]

Tags: Israel, Palestine

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Amnesty International has described as scandalous the Israeli army’s account of firing a tank shell that killed Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana as a “sound” decision. The army reached the conclusion as part of a so-called investigation into the killing of the journalist and three other unarmed civilians, including 2 children, on 16 April 2008.
The army’s [...]

Tags: Israel

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“The Israeli siege has turned Gaza into a big prison.  We cannot leave, not even for medical care or to study abroad, and most of what we need is not available in Gaza.  We are not living really; we are barely surviving and the outlook for the future is bleak.” – Fathi, a Gaza resident
The [...]

Tags: Israel, Palestine

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Collective Punishment Violates International Law
The Israeli government should reject plans to resume the demolition or confiscation of the homes of alleged terrorists, Human Rights Watch said today. These measures would violate international legal prohibitions against collective punishment, as they affect the owners or inhabitants of the homes who have no involvement in terrorism.
Link to HRW

Tags: Israel

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Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank Suffer From Factional Strife
Hamas forces in Gaza and Fatah forces in the West Bank have carried out a wave of unlawful arrests against opponents in recent days, Human Rights Watch said today. In Gaza, Hamas forces physically abused some of the people they apprehended and closed roughly 100 organizations [...]

Tags: Israel, Palestine

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In a Memorandum sent to the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) Amnesty International urged legislators to reject a proposed law that imposes lengthy prison sentences on asylum-seekers and irregular migrants, disregarding their reasons for entering the country, and allowing for their immediate deportation, without regard for their possible ill-treatment or [...]

Tags: Israel

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The United States should promptly call on Israel to end its blanket ban preventing hundreds of Palestinian students from leaving the Gaza Strip to study abroad, Human Rights Watch and two North American scholarly organizations said today.
Link to hrw.org

Tags: Gaza, Israel, USA

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