US Group Details Jenin Killings, Massacre Unlikely
Tue Apr 30, 9:02 PM ET
By Elaine Monaghan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. medical rights group on Tuesday released a preliminary assessment
of Palestinian casualties at Jenin refugee camp saying they did not point to a massacre by Israel's army
but showed an urgent need for an inquiry and protection of forensic evidence at the site.
"There is a strong basis to believe there were severe delays in enabling
wounded people to reach a medical facility," Boston-based Physicians for
Human Rights added in a report that put Palestinian deaths at least 45 and
injuries at 201.
It based its data on a review of records at a hospital it said processed more
than 90 percent of nearby casualties, but cautioned the death toll was probably
higher than the 45 detailed in the hospital records as about two bodies were
being pulled per day from the debris when the team stopped work.
It called on Israel to allow a U.N. fact-finding team "without delay" in to the camp which was the scene
of fierce Israeli-Palestinian fighting this month. Palestinians have accused Israel of a massacre, while
Israel rejects the charge.
"Of particular concern to any future fact-finding effort is the lack of any centralized control over the
location itself, the extraction of bodies, and the collection of evidence and witness names and statements,"
Leonard Rubenstein, the group's executive director, said.
A senior U.N. official said earlier that Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) was thinking of
abandoning a mission he named to look into the Jenin assault due to Israeli objections.
"We are releasing this now because we are very concerned that it appears that the fact-finding team may
not proceed," said Susannah Sirkin, PHR's deputy director.
She said separately in a telephone interview, "It would be safe to say that we have not seen any evidence
of a massacre."
PHR said its preliminary forensic assessment raised "several serious issues, including those relating to the
shooting of civilians and access to medical care."
It based its data on a review of records at a hospital it said processed more than 90 percent of nearby
casualties. The group stressed that apart from two morgue examinations and interviews with locals
conducted by three experts on April 22 and 23, it had no independent confirmation of the hospital records.
Jenin hospital processed 45 fatalities, including five women, seven men over 51 and 10 people under 20,
and 201 injuries between April 3, when Israeli forces entered the area, and April 22, when the fighting
was over, the report said.
Sirkin said the death toll was probably higher than the 45 detailed in hospital records as about two bodies
were being pulled per day from the debris when her team stopped work.
Fifteen of those killed were shot, mostly in the head, 19 died of unknown injuries, five were crushed, three
were killed by blunt force to the head, one person was crushed by a tank and another died of smoke
inhalation, the records showed.
Thirty people were killed in the refugee camp itself, five in the nearby town and 10 in villages within a 3.5
mile (6 km) radius.
Of the 201 injuries, 70 took place at the camp. The report said 69 people were hit by bullets or shrapnel,
13 were beaten and six hit by falling debris, six suffered blast injuries, four had extreme neurosis, two
were hurt in an accidental explosion and another two suffered unspecified injuries.
DELAYS IN MEDICAL TREATMENT
"Nearly all of the remaining patients still housed at Jenin Governmental Hospital reported delays (in
getting to the hospital) ranging from 3-7 days," the report said. "In addition, several of those injured
reported that they were either shot by Israel Defense Force snipers or by IDF soldiers from helicopter
gunships."
Seven of the 201 people injured were 10 or under and 13 were aged over 51, the report said.
PHR sent out its forensics chief William Haglund, Nizam Peerwani, chief medical examiner from Tarrant
County, Texas, and Colonel Brenda Hollis, an attorney-investigator with forensic experience on tribunals
for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
It said the hospital's power and oxygen supplies and water and sewer systems were badly damaged after
Israeli armored vehicles and tanks surrounded it, and that its only ambulance and a patient transport
vehicle were crushed by Israeli tanks. |
