2024-04-05 18:16:53
Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the Israeli air strike on a six-story residential building housing hundreds of people, in the central Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023, “constitutes a supposed war crime.”
The organization stated that this attack, which killed 106 civilians, including 54 children, is one of the bloodiest attacks since the start of the Israeli bombing and ground incursion into Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.
Human Rights Watch confirmed that it did not find any evidence of the presence of a military target in the vicinity of the building at the time of the Israeli attack, which makes the raid random and illegal under the laws of war.
The organization said, “The Israeli army’s record of failing to credibly investigate alleged war crimes highlights the importance of the International Criminal Court investigating serious crimes committed by all parties to the conflict.”
For his part, Gerry Simpson, co-director of the Crisis and Conflict Division at Human Rights Watch, explained: “Israel’s illegal air strike on a residential building on October 31 killed at least 106 civilians, including children playing soccer and residents charging their phones in a shop.” On the ground floor, displaced families are searching for safety.”
He added: “This raid caused heavy casualties among civilians without having an apparent military target – and it is one of dozens of attacks that caused a massive massacre, which confirms the urgent need for an International Criminal Court investigation.”
Between January and March 2024, Human Rights Watch said it conducted telephone interviews with 16 people regarding the October 31 attack on the residential building known as the “Mohandiseen Building” and the killing of their relatives and others.
Human Rights Watch also analyzed satellite images, 35 photographs, and 45 videos of the aftermath of the attack, as well as photographs and videos on social media sites.
Witnesses said that, on October 31, there were 350 or more people residing in the Mohandiseen building, adjacent to the south of the “Nuseirat” refugee camp. At least 150 of them were taking refuge there after fleeing their homes elsewhere in Gaza.
The organization considered this raid to be one of hundreds of attacks carried out by the Israeli army in Gaza that killed or injured Palestinian civilians since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the killing of more than 1,100 people and the taking of about 240 others hostage.
The organization called on Israel’s allies to “suspend military aid and arms sales to it as long as its forces commit systematic and widespread violations of the laws of war against Palestinian civilians with impunity.” She pointed out that “Governments that continue to provide weapons to the Israeli government risk complicity in war crimes.” It must also use its influence, including through targeted sanctions, to pressure the Israeli authorities to stop committing serious violations.”
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2024-04-05 18:16:53