PCHR: 2008 the bloodiest year for the Palestinians since the Nakba

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian center for human rights (PCHR) issued a report on Saturday revealing that the year 2008 was the bloodiest year for the Palestinians since the Nakba of 1948. It included violations and attacks that occurred during Israeli offensives against the Palestinians. The report which was distributed during a news conference held in Gaza and a copy of which was received by the PIC said that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces and the settlers in 2008 is 868, 820 of them were killed in the Gaza Strip, and 48 were killed in the West Bank. The report added that 414 of the slain Palestinians were civilians and were killed in situations that did not pose any threat to the lives of Israeli troops. According to the report, in 2008, IOF soldiers kidnapped during repeated incursions or at checkpoints 2,433 Palestinians in the West Bank and 68 in Gaza. IOF troops and settlers carried out repeated attacks against Palestinian lands and homes in the West Bank, while the Israeli occupation authority expropriated more Palestinian lands for settlement expansion and for the construction of the apartheid wall. The PCHR reported that in 2008, IOF soldiers destroyed 216 homes in the Palestinian lands, including 107 in the West Bank and 109 in Gaza, adding that IOF troops also destroyed 3,434 dunums of agricultural lands.