Israeli forces execute 13 Palestinian children near Al-Shifa: Euro-Med

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor
30 Mar 2024 15:33
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The Euro-Med Monitor's field team has recorded identical incidents of extrajudicial executions near and inside Al-Shifa Hospital.

The family of toddler, Muhammad Mohsen Muammar, 3, mourn him after he was killed in an Israeli strike on the family's house in the southernmost city of Rafah, the Gaza Strip, Palestine, on March 29, 2024. (AP)

Israeli occupation forces executed 13 Palestinian children in and near the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, a report released by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor revealed.

The Human Rights Monitor said that the Israeli occupation's military killed the children in a span of a week, in a report it published on March 27.

These 13 children were killed by direct live fire, in a blatant violation of international law. Euro-Med said that the incident is "a war crime and a crime against humanity, and is part of the genocide that the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."

"For over a week now, the Israeli army has been conducting systematic and horrifying military operations inside and around Al-Shifa Medical Complex. These crimes include extrajudicial executions and deliberate killings of Palestinian civilians," it explained.

The organization said that its field team had received identical testimonies about the killing and execution of Palestinian children, aged between 4 and 16.

"Some of the fatal shootings occurred during an Israeli army siege while the victims’ families were inside their homes; others occurred when the victims attempted to escape via routes that the Israeli army had designated as 'safe' after forcibly evacuating them from their homes and places of residence," the report stated.

The human rights organization urged the UN Special Rapporteur to promptly investigate and record the extrajudicial executions carried out by Israeli occupation forces around the Al-Shifa Medical Complex. It also encouraged the official to advocate for impactful measures to ensure accountability for both the Israeli perpetrators and those responsible for issuing orders.

The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor pointed out that Palestinian children constitute over one-third of the casualties in Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 7, 2023, totaling 14,405 out of 40,156 deaths. It asserted that the systematic and widespread killing of these children by the Israeli military indicates deliberate intent and is evidence of "Israel's" genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and its "deliberate destructions" of successive generations.

To conclude its report, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called on the international community to act quickly and forcefully to defend Palestinian civilians. It also urged the International Criminal Court (ICC), which tries individuals for war crimes, to hold "Israel" accountable for its crimes.

Finally, it called on the international community to enforce the United Nations Security Council's resolution for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, as well as the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Israeli occupation's military command launched the second large-scale invasion of the Al-Shifa Hospital on March 18, destroying sections of the facility while besieging it, assaulting staff and patients, and committing over 50 field executions.