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Israel must stop collective punishment

7/02/2008

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) strongly supports the alarming statement released on Wednesday, February 6th by a large group of Palestinian and Israeli organizations, among which several belong to FIDH's network , on the escalation of collective punishment of Gaza .

FIDH deplores the harsh military operation conducted by the Israeli army in Gaza, which killed and injured the civilian population on Thursday, February 7th, in retaliation to the suicide bombing attack earlier this week in Israel.

Israel has started to reduce supplies of electricity it sells to Gaza, as part of punitive measures taken against Gaza's civilian population, with the approval of Israel's Supreme Court.

According to a statement by Hamas today, the suicide attack in Dimona is the first of a series of similar actions.

FIDH urges the Israeli Government to stop immediately the current military raids in the Gaza Strip and to resume supplies of fuel and electricity, in order to prevent a greater humanitarian crisis;

FIDH urges Hamas to stop launching Qassam Rockets on civilian population in Israel and to stop threatening the Israeli population with forthcoming bomb attacks;

FIDH calls both sides to refrain from increasing the level of violence and to refrain from taking retaliatory measures.

Topics: Military operations,