LATEST: There are children inside the building which is now on fire

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday April 02, 2002 15:05 by blissett

ambulances not allowed to move

There are children inside the building which is now on fire, and the Israeli soldiers are preventing ambulances and the fire brigade from reaching the scene.

Subj: Deadly and destructive invasion of Ramallah continues
Date: 4/2/02 4:52:26 AM Mountain Standard Time
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The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse

URGENT APPEAL
Deadly and destructive invasion of Ramallah continues
2nd April 2002 - 8 am ?

The Israeli army is currently attacking the site of the Preventive Security
Forces in Ramallah with tanks and helicopter gunships, in what has been a
continuous bombardment and shelling since last night. There are children
inside the building which is now on fire, and the Israeli soldiers are
preventing ambulances and the fire brigade from reaching the scene.

At 1 am this morning the Preventive Security Compound was completely
surrounded by Israeli tanks, helicopter gunships and snipers. The Israeli
army used more than 50 Palestinian detainees as human shields to walk in
front of the tanks as they advances and surrounded the compound. People
inside were asked to surrender and leave the building but whenever people
tried to move they were shot.

The Preventive Security is a branch of the Palestinian police and the
compound holds a mixture of civilian and security facilities – there is a
hospital inside, a nursery, a hotel, and other civilian facilities. Most of
the people trapped inside the burning building are female employees who work
in the civilian services and live inside the compound with their children
and families. We have been called by desperate women trapped inside the
building along with their children, pleading for help and assistance.

At this moment (8 am) the bombardment is ongoing and helicopter gunships are
circulating over Ramallah. There seems to be a number of killed and injured
people inside the compound but up until this release no one has been able to
provide medical and humanitarian assistance. Five ambulances from the
Medical Relief Teams and the Red Crescent that tried to reach the site were
stopped and held. The medical staff were forced out of the ambulances,
stripped of their clothes and put on the ground outside the Ramallah
Municipality.

What is being instigated here is a slow but constant murder of
Palestinians – carefully executed away from the eyes of the foreign media –
which the Israeli government has forced out of the area – a drawn out
massacre.

Apart from the killings taking place, taking place other aspects of the
invasion are as equally as dangerous, attacking a civilian facility, using
innocent people as human shields and not allowing humanitarian assistance,
and must be stopped immediately.

The Ministry of Health has warned that due to the high number of unburied
corpses in Ramallah there is a serious threat of diseases spreading.
Israeli troops are also attacking and destroying civilian institutions.

THIS IS AN URGENT CALL FOR ALL HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS WORLDWIDE TO
INTERVENE IMMEDIATELY.

For more information contact Juliana at the Palestine Monitor +972 (0)2
5834021 or +972 (0)2 5833510