UPDATE: Nablus

April 09, 2002: In Nablus and surrounding refugee camps, Israeli forces continue to shell civilian homes. Twelve residents of the old city have been killed. One of them has been identified as Riziq Baker (40). In Askar refugee camp, Israeli forces killed two residents. Hafed Sabra (60) and Amjad Abda (11) were hit by an artillery shell and killed instantly. During the Israeli raid of the Kasaba (old city of Nablus), the Israeli occupation army forced residents to leave their homes and gather at Gamal Abdel Nasser school and detained one thousand residents and took them to Hawara military base. Israeli forces besieged a field hospital which was set up al-Beik mosque, broke into the mosque and arrested wounded persons and closed the field hospital. details

The old city, in the words of one international who has recently arrived there to help the beleaguered and terrified population is "total devastation - awful." The international group who going to help the humanitarian agencies have reported that the ambulance crews have been told directly by the Israeli forces that they will be "fired upon" if they attempt to move. Regardless, the internationals, at the request of the crews, will be assisting them and travelling in the ambulances as medical volunteers and witnesses. One ambulance driver reported that the bodies of the dead are strewn throughout the streets. The ambulances crews are being prevented from evacuating the dead and injured. One crew wrote in their daily log that one body has lain where he fell for 5 days. Dogs are eating the corpse.
Loudspeaker announcements were made yesterday from jeeps. "We are stronger than you - you are weak - there is no-one here to help you."
Today a French journalist from Channel 5 was shot in the chest. His protective vest was no safeguard. The surgeon reported that the bullet missed his heart by millimetres.