Israeli and Palestinian authorities must take concrete steps to put an end to the suffering of Palestinian women, who have been affected in every aspect of their lives by the conflict, Amnesty International said in a report published today. “Palestinian women have borne the brunt of the escalation of the conflict and decades of Israeli occupation, while in Palestinian society they are subjected to a system of laws and norms that treats them as unequal members of society,” said Amnesty International. The report examines the impact of conflict and occupation on Palestinian women, as well as increased violence against women in the family and discriminatory laws and practices. Read more about New report: Palestinian women carry the burden of Israel's occupation 

For the first time in four and a half years, we are witnessing some positive developments in the human rights situation Israel and the Occupied Territories. In recent months killings by both the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups have significantly diminished, as has the destruction of Palestinian homes and properties by Israeli forces. The evacuation of some 8,000 Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip and from some very sparsely populated settlements in the West Bank must not be allowed to be used by Israel as an opportunity to expand other settlements in the West Bank, where some 400,000 Israelis live in violation of international law. Read more about Amnesty: Time to act on removal of unlawful Israeli settlements 

Amnesty International is concerned about the deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian situation as a result of the Israeli army incursion in the Jabaliya refugee camp and surrounding areas in the northern Gaza Strip, including sectors in the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. In the past week more than 70 Palestinians have been killed, more than a third of whom were unarmed and including some 20 children. Hundreds of others have been injured. The Israeli army has repeatedly used excessive force, including heavy shelling from tanks and helicopter gunships. Experience has shown that the use of such weapons in densely populated residential areas, invariably results in a high rate of death and injury of bystanders and people who are not involved in armed confrontation. Read more about Amnesty concerned about excessive use of force in Gaza 

Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of the Palestinian population in the Jabaliya refugee camp and elsewhere in the northern Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army is carrying out a large-scale offensive. In the past two days the Israeli army has killed more than 35 Palestinians, including several children and other unarmed residents who were not participating in armed confrontations with Israeli soldiers. Most of those killed and injured were hit by Israeli army tank fire and at least two were killed by a missile fired by a helicopter gunship. Amnesty International is concerned that the Israeli army’s use of excessive force in this latest incursion in the Gaza Strip will result in further loss of lives and wanton destruction of Palestinian homes and property. Read more about Amnesty: "Israeli army must respect human rights" 

Thousands of Palestinians are being denied their fundamental right to live as a family by an Israeli law that is due for review at the end of this month. The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law bars Israelis who are married to Palestinians from the Occupied Territories from living with their spouses in Israel. In a report published today, Torn Apart: Families split by discriminatory policies, Amnesty International calls on Israel to repeal the law on family unification, which discriminates against Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and against the Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of Jerusalem who marry them. Read more about Families torn apart by discriminatory policies 

In the wake of the Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel must immediately halt construction of the fence/wall inside the occupied West Bank, dismantle the sections already built there, and make reparation for the damage caused. Amnesty International said. While welcoming Israel’s Supreme Court ruling, Amnesty International notes that the ruling concerns only a very small section - less than 40 km out of more than 600 km - of the total route of the wall. Read more about Dismantle the wall, says International Court of Justice 

Amnesty International is calling on the Israeli authorities to ensure that a thorough, independent and impartial investigation is promptly carried out into the killing of two Palestinian children by members of the Israeli army in recent days in the Gaza Strip. Sixteen-year-old Asma al-Mughayr and her 13-year-old brother Ahmad were shot dead within minutes of each other on the roof-terrace of their home in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on the morning of 18 May 2004. Each was killed by a single bullet in the head, Asma while taking clothes off the drying line and her brother Ahmad while feeding the pigeons. Read more about Amnesty: "Killing of children must be investigated" 

Amnesty International urges the Israeli authorities to promptly carry out a thorough and independent investigation into the killing of eight Palestinians, four of them children, and the injury of dozens of others by the Israeli army during a demonstration in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, on 19 May 2004. Amnesty International delegates were in the vicinity of the demonstration at the time of the incident. They saw Israeli army helicopters hovering over the area where the demonstration was taking place, dropping what appeared to be flares; shortly after they heard several rounds of heavy shelling. Read more about Amnesty: Call for independent investigation into Rafah killings 

Israel’s unjustified destruction of thousands of Palestinian and Arab Israeli homes as well as vast areas of agricultural land has reached an unprecedented level and must stop immediately, Amnesty International said today. In its latest report “Under the rubble”, Amnesty International notes that over the last three and a half years, Israeli armed forces have demolished more than 3,000 homes, leaving tens of thousands of men, women and children homeless or without a livelihood. Read more about Amnesty: "Evictions and demolitions must stop"