The UN Human Rights Office stated that Israel’s bombings in Gaza could constitute crimes against humanity by involving “systematic attacks against the civilian population.” This is stated in a report published this Wednesday that analyzes six of these attacks during the conflict in the Palestinian enclave.
According to the criteria of
The study focuses on the details of half a dozen bombings carried out between October 9 and December 2, 2023 against residential buildings, refugee camps, a school and a market, in which at least 218 deaths were verified.
The attacks, which used GBU-31, GBU-32 and GBU-39 bombs, caused a high number of civilian casualties and enormous destruction of non-military objects, “raising serious doubts about the application of the laws of war regarding respect for the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution”.
According to the head of the UN office, High Commissioner Volker Türk, The rule of minimizing harm to civilians in war “appears to have been consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign.”
His office recalls when publishing the report that the bombing campaign has been accompanied by statements by officials of the Israeli forces who recognized that their main objective was to cause maximum damage.
The mere presence of a commander or several combatants does not turn an entire neighborhood into a military objective
It is also highlighted that officers of the Israeli defense forces went so far as to describe all Gaza residents as “human beasts.”
The report indicates that The bombs used in the bombings studied have the capacity to penetrate several floors of a concrete building and cause it to collapse.
“Given the dense population of the areas against which these explosives were directed, the use of them, with such widespread effects in large areas, is probably an indiscriminate attack,” prohibited by international laws, the study defends.
It is also reported that in five of the attacks no prior warning was issued.which increases the conviction that the precautionary principle was not respected.
In three of the attacks, the Israeli military said it targeted individuals linked to the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, although the UN office emphasizes that “the mere presence of a commander or several combatants does not turn an entire neighborhood into a military objective.”
“This would violate the principle of probability and the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks,” insists the report from the office led by Türk.
The high commissioner requested, in light of these conclusions, that Israel investigates these and other incidents in order to identify those responsible and hold them accountable, thus ensuring the victims’ right to truth, justice and reparation.
Among the six attacks analyzed are the one perpetrated against a market in Jabalya (northern end of Gaza) on October 9, the one against the Al Buraq school in the Gaza capital on November 10, and those of two refugee camps.
The report is published hours before another is presented to the Human Rights Council prepared by the International Commission and Independent Investigation for Palestine on all events that have occurred since the October 7 attacks.
The document of the commission chaired by the renowned South African jurist Navi Pillay concludes that both Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have committed war crimesalthough he also accuses Israeli forces of crimes against humanity.
Israel criticizes United Nations report
The Israeli Mission to the UN in Geneva responded this Wednesday to the United Nations report by assuring that “suffers from methodological and posterior biases” that reduce its credibility.
Its only objective is to attack Israel, further protecting the Hamas terrorists in Gaza
“Its only objective is to attack Israel, further protecting Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” the diplomatic mission said in a statement.
He added that “Hamas systematically and illegally integrates its military assets into populated areas, and carries out military activities there, among its civilians, with the deliberate intention of causing the greatest possible harm to the population, also manipulating in a civic manner the victim statistics”.
He assured that Israel respects the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution in its attacks, contrary to what is maintained by the report of the United Nations Office for Human Rights headed by High Commissioner Volker Türk.
#report #accuses #Israel #crimes #humanity #analyzing #bombings #Gaza #Strip