Stop "Autumn Clouds" from killing civilians in Gaza! ACT NOW!

The Israeli military is engaging in an continuous offensive in Gaza, which resulted so far in more than 300 injured, and more than 70 killed - mostly civilians. Please take action urgently to stop this madness named by the Israeli military “Operation Autumn Clouds”.

I just came from a candle vigil at the mass graveyard of the victims of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. The pain is unbelievable, it is the same story again and again with the civilian toll rising. More actions are planned in Lebanon in solidarity with the people of Palestine and those being massacred in Gaza. I do not know what to say... I chose to post an account from Beit Hanoun... please read on...

Appeal from the people of Beit Hanoun - click here

The Massacre of Beit Hanoun

From Electronic Intifada, Yousef Alhelou writing from Beit Hanoun, occupied Gaza Strip, 8 November 2006

One day after the Israel army declared that it had pulled out and completed Operation Autumn Clouds in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, 24 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and the West Bank, 19 people were killed and at least 45 were injured as a large number of shells were fired at the town. Another five Palestinians were killed in Jenin, northern West Bank by Israeli army fire.

The series of incidents began at 6 a.m., when eyewitness said that dozens of tank shells and missiles landed simultaneously in a small and limited area in Beit Hanoun. Ambulances found it difficult to evacuate the wounded. According to Palestinian sources, some of the shells landed on a house, killing 11 members of one family called Al-A'athamein, including a nine-year-old child and a 73-year-old woman. Israeli sources confirmed that artillery shells were fired Wednesday morning. Incredibly, they said it was not yet known whether the matter was a technical error or a human one.

Sources in Gaza reported that some of those killed were hurt after shells hit a group of civilians who arrived to aid those hurt in the first barrage. Residents in the area were called to donate blood for fear that the number of casualties would be higher. Khaled Radi, a Palestinian Health Ministry official, said all the dead were civilians. He said seven children and four women were among the dead.

Radi also said at least 45 more were wounded, all civilians. Four hospitals are treating the wounded across Gaza. Emergency and first aid director in the ministry of health, Dr Moa'aweyah Hasanein announced that the latest round of Israeli war crimes in Gaza has resulted in a new massacre in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. Nineteen innocent civilians, including seven children and four women, have been murdered brutally as they slept in their own house. This brings this week's toll alone to around 80 Palestinian martyrs and more than 350 have been injured.

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