Israeli online daily Haaretz reported that three Palestinian families
who lost nineteen relatives in an Israeli military shelling to their
houses last week are planning to sue Israel for its attack. The
families of Athamneh, Qassem and Adwab hired an Israeli attorney, Ehud
Segev, to represent them.
Resident Rasan Qassem, told Haaretz that that the family believes that the circumstances of the shelling of their houses is different than other cases in which civilians were killed, especially since Israel admitted openly that the artillery fire was a mistake.
Qassem lost his oldest brother in the shelling and his mother is in serious condition at the Israeli Ichilove Hosp[ital.
“There was no battle in the area, no homemade shells were fired at Israel”, he stated, “The army killed those people while they were sleeping in their beds, even Israel admitted and accepted its responsibility”.
He also said that the families had other options that included appealing to the International Court at the Hague.
Qassem added that Palestinian and International Human Rights groups are urging them to appeal to the Hague in order to intensify political aspect of the shelling and the conditions in which their family members were killed.
Haaretz reported that attorney Segev confirmed that he has been asked to represent the families, but declined to comment on the legal aspects of the claim.
He added that he is looking at the case from the moral and ethical issue far away from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“Israeli accepted its responsibility for the substantial] error and its consequences”, Segev stated, “It must also accept its responsibility for the compensation”.
Segev declined to comment on any legal measures he has taken, Haaretz said.
On Wednesday, November 8, twenty civilians, including eight children, were killed after the Israeli army shelled a residential area in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Another resident died of his wounds several days after the attack. At least forty residents were injured.
All of the killed residents are civilians, they were sleeping in their homes when the Israeli army shelled the civilian area.
The bodies of the casualties were severely mutilated as a result of the shelling, while the injured residents were sent to four hospitals across the Gaza Strip.
Israel claimed that the shelling was not intended to hit the civilian houses, although initial sources claimed that the target was an areas where Qassam homemade shells are fired into Israeli areas.
