The non-governmental organization Amnesty International this Monday demanded that they investigate how this incident happened. possible war crimes Nearly a hundred civilians, including more than 40 children, were killed in four attacks by the Israeli Army on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in December and January.
The NGO said four attacks, three in December and one in January, targeted many buildings in the city where 1.4 million Palestinians currently reside, including about 1.2 million from other parts of Gaza. 95 civilians, including 42 children, lost their lives in the bombings.
Therefore, he emphasized that he could not find “any indication” that the places attacked could be considered “legitimate military targets” or that the people in the buildings were “military targets”, and therefore he feared they would be attacked. “Direct” attacks against civilians should therefore be investigated as war crimes.
Amnesty International said that although the Israeli Army’s intention was to attack military targets in the area, “it is clear that “There was no distinction between military targets and civilian targets.” This would reveal that these bombings were indiscriminate in nature.
Erika Guevara Rosas, Director General of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International, pointed out that “entire families were destroyed in Israeli attacks, even after taking shelter in areas declared safe, without any prior warning from Israel.” authorities”.
“These attacks demonstrate a clear violation of international law by Israeli forces, which contradicts Israeli authorities’ claims that Israeli forces took maximum precautions to minimize harm to civilians.”
In this way, he elaborated, “Among those killed in these illegitimate attacks were a baby who was not yet three weeks old, a 69-year-old well-known retired doctor, a journalist who hosted displaced families in his home, and a journalist.” A mother who shares a bed with her 23-year-old daughter.
“A stain on the common conscience”
According to the statement released by the organization with the publication of the report, Guevara said, “Expressions sharing the pain of the survivors should remind us that these crimes in Gaza are a stain on the collective conscience of the world.” said.
“Following the critical interim ruling of the International Court of Justice that the risk of genocide is real and imminent, the horrific details of these cases reinforce the urgency for all States to press for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the “most effective means of which” is the implementation of interim measures ordered by the ICJ “They also underline the importance of imposing a comprehensive arms embargo on all parties to the conflict.” he recalled.
Thus Guevara assured: investigation “It provides clear indications of the terrible devastation caused by Israel’s incessant and illegitimate attacks on Gaza.” “Four months have passed since Israel’s offensive began, more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 60,000 injured amid an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.”
“In the face of the horrific scale of death and destruction, all States have an absolute obligation to act to prevent genocide, but key States have not called for a clear ceasefire and continue to fuel war crimes by supplying arms to Israel.” said.
“Families of many victims said that despite their losses, the only thing that motivated them was to fight for some degree of justice, and stressed the importance of combating long-standing impunity for war crimes and other violations of international law committed by Israeli forces,” he stressed.
In this way, he emphasized, “This includes the urgent need.” International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s Office “Accelerate the ongoing investigation into evidence of war crimes and other heinous crimes committed by all parties.”
Investigations into attacks
The NGO said it visited the places targeted by four attacks. Three of these were carried out overnight, taking photographs and videos of the destruction and interviewing 18 people involved in the search and rescue operations, including 14 survivors and 4 relatives of the victims.
The first of the attacks was carried out on two houses of the Palestinian Harb family in the Al Zuhur neighborhood, and 25 civilians, including 10 children and an 8-month pregnant woman, were killed. Islam Harb, who lost three of his four children (five-year-old twin girls and a six-month-old baby) in the attack, said, “I heard a big explosion.”
“I don’t remember seeing anything. I just heard a very loud explosion and lost consciousness. I woke up in the hospital. The first thing I remember was asking about my children. Only four-year-old Lin survived.” says. My family tried to pull the dead from the rubble for seven days. Due to the intensity of the attack, my brother Celil’s body was found 200 meters away from the house, collapsed. The children’s little bodies were torn to pieces,” she laments.
In the second attack, a three-storey house in Brazil’s neighborhood, owned by Abdalá Shehada, the former director of the Abu Yusef al Najar hospital, who died in the attack, and 29 civilians, including 11 children, was destroyed.
Shehada’s son, Yusef, claims that “this was the home of a doctor who devoted his life to helping people and a house where displaced people took shelter.” “We spent days pulling bodies from the rubble of people who just wanted to be safe,” he says.
The third bombing hit Ömer Zurub’s two-storey house in the west of the city, and 22 people, including 11 children, died. Ömer, the oldest of those who died, was 75 years old; The youngest was her great-niece, Amira Aisha, who was less than three weeks old and was not yet registered in the civil registry.
Malak al Shaer, the wife of Omar’s son Mamdú, claims that everyone was asleep during the attack and then regained consciousness under the rubble. “I couldn’t open my eyes because they were full of glass, shrapnel and sand. My whole body was under the rubble, only one of my feet was visible. It took rescuers maybe 20 minutes to get me out,” he says.
The woman, who suffered severe burns on her face and had vision problems due to shrapnel in her eyes, was discharged two weeks later. The health system collapsed in Gaza due to the attack Israel. In one of the adjoining houses owned by journalist Adel Zurub, the reporter and nine of the 70 displaced people he hosted in his home lost their lives.
fourth Attacks are being investigated It occurred in January in a five-story building owned by the Nofal family in Tel el Sultan, a neighborhood where Israel wants the displaced to leave. 18 people, including 10 children, died in the bombing. Nurse Nidal Nofal, a resident of the building, said that many of Khan Yunis’ displaced relatives live with him. “On the map sent by Israeli forces, it is specifically stated that Tel el Sultan is one of the safe neighborhoods,” he says.