Gaza: destruction of al-Jalaa tower by Israel could constitute war crime
Audio 02:41
The al-Jalaa building housing the offices of the Associated Press and other media and housing dozens of families collapses after being hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on May 5, 2021. © AP Photo / Hatem Moussa, File
By: Alice Froussard Follow
7 mins
The Israeli military airstrikes, which destroyed four multi-story residential buildings in Gaza during the clashes of May 2021, apparently violated the laws of war and could constitute war crimes.
That's the conclusion of a new Human Rights Watch report this week.
It was between May 11 and May 15, the Hanadi, al-Shorouk and al-Jalaa towers were reduced to rubble by the Israeli strikes.
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The center of Gaza is devastated. There are houses pulverized, roads gutted and the 13-story al-Jalaa tower, nothing remains. It was targeted, completely destroyed by the Israeli army, on May 15, in the middle of the afternoon. More than 30 families lived there, the building housed the American news agency AP, the television channel Al Jazeera, several law offices and a clinic. On the spot, only Egyptian bulldozers, which are busy, still clearing the rubble. Everything is still only at this first stage.
Jawad Mahdi, 68, the owner of the tower, also a resident, still cannot believe it: “
What happened is not normal, it was not expected at all.
Imagine, you think you are safe in your house, you wake up in the morning, you go to work, you go about your day normally, and at 1:30 pm you find yourself on the street, with nothing, because everything is destroyed.
Where are you going to sleep?
In which school, in which street, in which house of your friends or relatives?
It is really difficult.
No one in the whole world can imagine that a human being could live in his house with his family, his children, his grandchildren and suddenly everything becomes a nightmare.
We didn't believe it.
"
Only 15 minutes to leave
The Israelis only left them
15 minutes after warning they were going to bomb
, when the warning, usually, is given an hour before, he said.
The inhabitants were able to leave in disaster, but could not move anything: “
That day was a new Nakba, the disaster.
1948, it was a Nakba, 1967 also, there, it was the third.
"
More than three months later, before seeing the start of reconstruction, it will take a long time, specifies Jawad Mahdi, because everything is "
political
" he says, and the blockade prevents the arrival of money, material quickly. .
“
We are afraid that it will be like in 2014, where we had to wait six or seven years.
"
►
See also: After the bombings, the reconstruction of Gaza valued at 485 million dollars
According to the Israeli army, the tower housed "
entities belonging to the military intelligence of Hamas
", which categorically refuses the 68-year-old man, determined to prosecute Israel. “
We are ready for any testimony that is requested of us, whether it is testimony here, in The Hague, at the International Criminal Court or anywhere in the world. Because we want to expose Israeli crimes, and because the demolition of the Gaza towers is a barbaric act. Wars are known to be between two fighters, not between Israeli strikes and a residential tower. However, we must consider ourselves happy because the building did not fall on our heads, as it could have been the case for other families in Gaza.
"
This is the conclusion of the Human Rights Watch report because under international humanitarian law, which codifies the laws of war, all parties to a conflict are required to limit their attacks to military objectives.
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Gaza
Israel
Israelo-Palestinian conflict
Palestinian territories
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