General Assembly Tenth emergency special session Agenda item 5 Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory Security Council Sixty-first year Identical letters dated 12 July 2006 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council The Palestinian death toll continues to rise as Israel, the occupying Power, continues to carry out its incessant series of military assaults, using all means of lethal weaponry to forge ahead with its maniacal, excessive and indiscriminate use of force, extrajudicial executions and State terror against the Palestinian civilian population held captive under its brutal occupation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The result has been the slaughter of more and more innocent Palestinian civilians, including women and children, each day. Such criminal actions by the Israeli occupying forces must be firmly and explicitly condemned by the international community and those perpetrating such criminal acts must be held accountable and brought to justice. The most recent such attack occurred early today in the pre-dawn hours in the Gaza Strip when an Israeli F-16 warplane dropped a 550-pound bomb on a home in the heavily populated Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City. This deliberate assault, declared by Israel, the occupying Power, to have been launched for the purpose of assassinating high-ranking Hamas officials, resulted in the massacre of at least nine Palestinian civilians, including a woman and seven children, all members of the same family in that home. The bombing also caused the collapse of the three-story home, endangering the lives of hundreds of other civilians in adjacent homes in the area. In this regard, it is being reported that there are still at least 4 people missing and that more than 30 other people were wounded in the attack, several of whom are in critical condition. Today’s bloody massacre of Palestinian civilians by Israel, the occupying Power, comes against the backdrop of Israel’s expanding military aggression and its intransigent rejection of all efforts for diplomacy and mediation to address the current crisis. Indeed, the occupying Power continues only to pursue its military agenda, deliberately causing widespread death, destruction and suffering for the Palestinian civilian population, particularly in the besieged Gaza Strip. In this regard, the Israeli occupying forces pushed deeper into Gaza overnight, moving into the central Gaza Strip and taking control of the main north-south road there, bisecting the area into two. At the same time, Israeli snipers seized positions on the rooftops of buildings and homes in the area and Israeli tanks and bulldozers continued to destroy crops and agricultural land, particularly in the Khan Younis area. All of the above-mentioned incidents continue to severely impact the already deplorable humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian civilian population is suffering from serious shortages of food, medicine and clean water supplies. In the light of this continuing dramatic deterioration of the situation on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, the Palestinian people and their leadership reiterate their urgent appeals to the international community to take action to bring an end to the senseless daily slaughter of Palestinians and the wanton destruction being deliberately committed by Israel, the occupying Power. Serious and concerted action by the international community, including the Security Council, in accordance with its authority and responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations, must be taken in order to bring a halt to this insanity and to stem this dangerous and tragic downward spiral of the situation. The international community cannot continue to forsake its responsibilities under international law, including under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to address this crisis and, foremost, to provide protection for the defenceless Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation. The present letter is in follow-up to our previous 253 letters to you regarding the ongoing crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, since 28 September 2000. Those letters, dated from 29 September 2000 (A/55/432-S/2000/921) to 10 July 2006 (A/ES-10/346-S/2006/501), constitute a basic record of the crimes being committed by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people since September 2000. Moreover, we reiterate once again that for all of these war crimes, State terrorism and systematic human rights violations committed against the Palestinian people, Israel, the occupying Power, must be held accountable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. In follow-up to the above-mentioned letters, it is my profound regret to inform you that since my last letter to you just two days ago, at least 30 more Palestinian civilians, including children, have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces, raising the total number of martyrs killed since September 2000 to 4,025. (The names of the martyrs who have been identified are listed in the annex to the present letter.) I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter and its annex distributed as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council. (Signed) Riyad Mansour Ambassador Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations Annex to the identical letters dated 12 July 2006 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council * The total number of Palestinian martyrs killed by the Israeli occupying forces since 28 September 2000 is 4,025. Names of martyrs killed by the Israeli occupying forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem* (Monday, 10 July, to Wednesday, 12 July 2006) Monday, 10 July 2006 1. Ahmad Shebat (16 years old) 2. Ahmad Abu Amsha (15 years old) 3. Raji Daifallah 4. Mahfouz Fareed Nossair (17 years old) 5. Majed Mahmoud Al-Sheikh 6. Ayman Al-Akawi 7. Mitwalli Al-Arqan Tuesday, 11 July 2006 1. Ahmad Shaheen 2. Mohammad Sharab (15 years old) 3. Yousri Al-Safadi 4. Muna Ismail (19 years old) 5. Ziad Abu Maghaseeb 6. Hamza Abu Ziadeh (18 months old) 7. Waleed Al-Zinati (12 years old) Wednesday, 12 July 2006 1. Hisham Abu Noussairah 2. Tareq Nassar (19 years old) 3. Nabeel Abu Salmiyya 4. Salwa Abu Salmiyya 5. Samia Nabeel Abu Salmiya 6. Basma Nabeel Abu Salmiya 7. Hoda Nabeel Abu Salmiya 8. Eman Nabeel Abu Salmiya 9. Aya Nabeel Abu Salmiya 10. Yehya Nabeel Abu Salmiya 11. Nasrallah Nabeel Abu Salmiya 12. Juma’ Saleem 13. Fadi Qadeeh (19 years old) 14. Salama Al-Basheeti 15. Tamer Muhareb 16. Mohammad Khamees Al-Masri __________________ __________________  sss1 \* MERGEFORMAT A/ES-10/347 sss2 \* MERGEFORMAT S/2006/519 sss1 \* MERGEFORMAT A/ES-10/347 sss2 \* MERGEFORMAT S/2006/519 FooterJN \* MERGEFORMAT 06-42776 \* MERGEFORMAT 4 \* MERGEFORMAT 3 FooterJN \* MERGEFORMAT 06-42776 United Nations A/ES-10/347–S/2006/519 General Assembly Security Council Distr.: General 13 July 2006 Original: English jobn \* MERGEFORMAT 06-42776 (E) 130706 Barcode \* MERGEFORMAT *0642776*