Civilian deaths in Nuseirat may be war crimes
Published: 04:06 PM,Jun 11,2024 | EDITED : 09:06 AM,Jun 12,2024
People walk towards a devastated building at Al-Shifa hospital damaged by Israeli bombs in Gaza City. — AFP
GENEVA: The U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday the killings of civilians in Gaza during the Israeli operation to free four captives. Israel said the operation, accompanied by an air assault, took place on Saturday in the heart of a residential neighbourhood in central Gaza's Nuseirat area where Palestinians had kept the captives in two separate apartment blocks.
The operation killed more than 270 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials.
'The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution - as set out under the laws of war - were respected by the Israeli forces,' Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, said.
Laurence added that the holding of captives in such densely populated areas by Palestinian armed groups was 'putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the captives themselves, at added risk from the hostilities.' 'All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes,' he said.
In response to the statement, Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva accused of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights of 'slandering Israel'.
'The toll of this war on civilians is first and foremost the product of Palestinians deliberate strategy to maximize civilian harm,' the mission said.
The conflict in Gaza was triggered when Palestinians charged into Israel on Oct. 7 and killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the enclave.
Gunmen took around 250 captives back to Gaza on Oct. 7, more than 100 of whom were released in exchange for about 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails during a week-long truce in November.
There are 116 captives left in the coastal enclave, according to Israeli tallies, including at least 40 whom Israeli authorities have declared dead in absentia.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said, and Israel's border police said they had opened fire at a vehicle that tried to run them over during an arrest raid. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Israeli forces opened fire at a vehicle near a village outside the city of Ramallah. It reported that Israeli forces later entered the village and eight people were injured during clashes. Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before the war in Gaza, has escalated further, with stepped-up Israeli military raids, settler violence and Palestinian street attacks. — Reuters
The operation killed more than 270 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials.
'The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution - as set out under the laws of war - were respected by the Israeli forces,' Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, said.
Laurence added that the holding of captives in such densely populated areas by Palestinian armed groups was 'putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the captives themselves, at added risk from the hostilities.' 'All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes,' he said.
In response to the statement, Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva accused of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights of 'slandering Israel'.
'The toll of this war on civilians is first and foremost the product of Palestinians deliberate strategy to maximize civilian harm,' the mission said.
The conflict in Gaza was triggered when Palestinians charged into Israel on Oct. 7 and killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the enclave.
Gunmen took around 250 captives back to Gaza on Oct. 7, more than 100 of whom were released in exchange for about 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails during a week-long truce in November.
There are 116 captives left in the coastal enclave, according to Israeli tallies, including at least 40 whom Israeli authorities have declared dead in absentia.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said, and Israel's border police said they had opened fire at a vehicle that tried to run them over during an arrest raid. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Israeli forces opened fire at a vehicle near a village outside the city of Ramallah. It reported that Israeli forces later entered the village and eight people were injured during clashes. Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before the war in Gaza, has escalated further, with stepped-up Israeli military raids, settler violence and Palestinian street attacks. — Reuters