Besieged and targeted for days by Israel’s military, medics inside the Gaza City’s main hospital said on Monday that patients were dying for lack of fuel. According to Gaza health ministry 32 patients have died in the past three days, including three newborn babies as a result of the siege. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, has declared that al-Shifa Hospital is no longer operating as a functional medical facility.
Since October 8, over 11,000 casualties have been confirmed, with approximately 40% being children. Furthermore, more than half of the population has been displaced as a result of an unrelenting Israeli campaign, widely criticized as genocidal. The Gaza health ministry reports that seven hospitals and health centers have been targeted, resulting in substantial damage and forced the evacuation of Beit Hanoun Hospital.
Various rights organizations have accused Israel of committing extensive war crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, asserting that the blockade imposed on the territory’s two million residents violates international law. Cutting off electricity, water, and food, as well as blocking aid from entering the Gaza Strip, constitutes collective punishment, deemed a war crime.
Human rights organization Euro-Med Monitor documented damage to approximately 14 UN facilities resulting from Israeli airstrikes, including the deliberate targeting of a UNRWA school housing hundreds of displaced people. The organization also documented direct attacks on universities, mosques, markets, banks, telecommunications companies, residential towers, and other civilian infrastructure.
Attacking or bombarding towns, villages, homes, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited under Article 25 of the Hague Conventions concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land. It is crucial to emphasize that international humanitarian law requires the protection of civilians in all circumstances and under any conditions, deeming the killing of civilians to be a war crime in armed conflicts, potentially rising to the level of a crime against humanity.
For decades, Israel has employed disproportionate force, carrying out frequent massacres against Palestinian civilians as a means of revenge, punishment, and deterrence. Israel, today, is more insecure than ever in spite of its 75-year dependence on a sword-based approach. If it persists in denying Palestinians a life and a future, Israel also will end up with no life or future worth living in the Arab region.
