Most recent Israeli bombing of a school-turned-shelter is latest crime against Gaza’s displaced people
Palestinians inspect a school which was sheltering displaced people after it was hit by an Israeli strike, Gaza City, 1 September 2024
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports on 22 SEptember 2024:
The Israeli bombing of another school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City’s southern Zeitoun neighborhood on Saturday morning, killing more than 20 Palestinians at once, is the latest possible war crime committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli aircraft bombed the Zeitoun (C) school, located in the Zeitoun neighborhood in the south of Gaza City, on 21 September at 11:30 am. The attack resulted in the killing of 21 Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of whom were children and women. Those killed included 13 children and six women, one of whom was pregnant and killed with her three-month-old fetus. Thirty others were injured, nine of whom were children who had to have their legs amputated.
The Euro-Med Monitor field and legal team visited the targeted school immediately after the Israeli attack, and did not witness any sign of armed personnel or equipment there. A review of the victims’ names revealed that they were all civilians, and were mostly women and children, which refutes the Israeli army’s claim that it had targeted a school being used as a military command and control centre by armed groups.
This claim has been repeated by Israel as the number of schools-turned shelters it has targeted for bombing has increased. Since August, Israel has bombed a total of 21 of these schools, including eight in September. As a result of these attacks, 267 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more have been injured.
Targeting and destroying schools over the heads of displaced persons cannot be justified, and constitutes a flagrant violation of the principles of distinction, military necessity, proportionality, i.e. the need to take necessary precautions. While the Israeli army tries every time to justify these attacks by claiming that it is attacking military targets, it never offers any proof to support its claims.
The Israeli army is deliberately destroying the remaining shelter centres in the Gaza Strip, including schools and public facilities, with the aim of creating a coercive environment that forces civilians to evacuate their areas of residence towards the central and southern sections of the Strip. About a week ago on 15 September, it destroyed Ghazi Al-Shawa School in the northern city of Beit Hanoun after contacting a number of displaced persons there in an attempt to force them to evacuate the area without justification. Ghazi Al-Shawa School was one of the last schools that remained as a shelter centre in that area.
The world’s nations must fulfill their international obligations by putting an end to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and other serious offenses in the Gaza Strip; safeguard the lives of civilians there; and ensure Israel abides by international law and the rulings of the International Court of Justice by imposing strong sanctions on it and cutting off all financial, military, and political support for it. This includes an immediate stop to all sales, exports, and transfers of weapons to Israel, including export licenses and military assistance
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