A Palestinian child was injured in Israeli raids on Rafah on March 1 (Getty)
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory said on Tuesday that it documented the execution of 13 children by the Israeli army by direct fire towards Palestinian children in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and its surroundings in Gaza, against which the occupation continues its aggression for the 172nd day.
The Observatory described these executions as a flagrant violation of the rules of international law, including international humanitarian law, which constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the context of the violations committed by Israel and “the genocide that the Palestinian people have been subjected to in the Gaza Strip for about 6 months.”
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory highlighted that the Israeli army has committed and continues to commit horrific crimes systematically during its military operations for more than a week inside and around Al-Shifa Hospital, including “premeditated killings and extrajudicial executions against Palestinian civilians.”
Gaza: Testimonies that the Israeli army executed 13 children in Al-Shifa Hospital and its surroundings within a week https://t.co/9lPs7iN39E
- Euro-Mediterranean Monitor (@EuroMedHRAr) March 26, 2024
The Observatory explained that its field team received statements and testimonies that it described as identical regarding executions and murders against Palestinian children between the ages of 4 and 16 years, some of them while the occupation besieged them with their families inside their homes, and others during their attempt to flee along paths that the Israeli army had previously determined for them.
The Human Rights Observatory reported testimonies from the Palestinian Islam Ali Salouha, a resident of the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital, in which he said that Israeli forces killed his son Ali (9 years old) and the child Saeed Muhammad Sheikha (6 years old) “in front of the eyes of their families after deliberately targeting them with live bullets.”
From a march by Palestinian children in Rafah to demand an end to the war (Getty)
Salouha explained that the Israeli army called on the people via loudspeakers at noon on Sunday, March 24, to evacuate their area of residence, which forced them to leave, but they were only able to walk dozens of meters until they were suddenly exposed to intense live bullets being fired at them, especially targeting the two children. Ali and Saeed, who fell before their eyes.
He added that when they tried to lift the two children from the ground, the Israeli military vehicles returned fire at them, which forced them to continue walking on the road and left the two children drowned in their blood on the ground due to the fear that they would be killed at any moment.
“They felt about us, we are children, and we do not have the right to live like this.” With these words, the Gazan child, Ramadan Abu Jazar, directed his message to the world via #Al Jazeera_net, demanding that consciences be stirred and an end to the “war of extermination” that Israel has been waging against the people of #Gaza for more than 110 days.
To read the details: https://t.co/QQ3OasAO8E pic.twitter.com/6VtHi1ctUS
- Aljazeera.net • Al Jazeera Net (@AJArabicnet) January 25, 2024
Euro-Med stated that children constitute more than a third of the martyred victims in the Gaza Strip since October 7, and their number reached 14,405 children out of 40,156 martyrs, according to its statistics, calling on both the international community to intervene immediately to protect Palestinian civilians and the Criminal Court. International to hold Israel accountable.
The Observatory urged the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions and the judiciary to take urgent action to investigate and document the killings committed by Israeli forces in the Al-Shifa Complex and its environs, and to push for taking effective measures that lead to holding the perpetrators of these crimes and those who issued orders regarding them accountable.
Earlier, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child confirmed that the war in the Gaza Strip had claimed the lives of more children with unprecedented brutality, while the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced that the number of children killed as a result of the war there had exceeded their number within 4 years of the year. Conflicts around the world.
Source: Al Jazeera + websites