Israeli air force shelled on Friday at night a Palestinian house in
Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. At least one missile hit
a house that belongs to Abu Jarad family, only a few minutes after the
family was informed to evacuate.
Eyewitnesses reported that the house was completely destroyed as a result of the blast, several neighborliness houses were damaged; no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military source stated that the owner of the house is a “suspected weapons dealer”. The house is close to the Gaza-Egypt border.
The two-story-house was leveled by the shells, the military spokesperson stated that the shelled house had covered the entrance of a tunnel used for smuggling arms and ammunition into the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli policy of shelling civilian houses, and the recent policy of notifying the owners of the houses that troops are about to shell their properties is a direct violation to the international law and the principles of human rights.
The owners of the shelled houses do not have any chance to defend themselves in a court of law, and do not even have enough time to evacuate their furniture and belongings.
