Escalation of Violence: Israel Accused of Intensifying Attacks on Gaza, Targeting Palestinian Civilians

 

Geneva As part of its genocidal war, which has been ongoing since October 7, the Israeli army has increased the number of premeditated killings, extrajudicial executions, and judicial killings against Palestinian civilians by directly targeting them with snipers and drones in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

Euro-Med Monitor claims that Israel is accelerating the execution of extrajudicial executions and using artillery and airstrikes to kill Palestinians on a big scale. According to the International Criminal Court's Rome Statute Basic Law, these acts qualify as war crimes and crimes against humanity.Numerous Israeli sniper operations, killings, and executions that have mostly targeted civilians in refuge centres, hospitals, streets, and populous residential areas have been documented by Euro-Med Monitor.

Among these occurrences was the shooting and death of 49-year-old Palestinian citizen Jihad Muhammad Al-Dardasawi from the Al-Turkman neighbourhood in the Shuja'iya neighbourhood east of Gaza City by an Israeli "Quadcopter" drone on February 4. Al-Dardasawi was the victim of direct fire, as evidenced by the initial examination of his body, which showed that he had many puncture wounds, including at least four in his back and one in his thigh.

The Euro-Med Monitor team was notified by Akram Al-Dardasawi that his brother Jihad was shot and killed by Israeli forces while he was cycling from his house to the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City to bring food for their injured brother. He continued by saying that Jihad was later interred in the courtyard of a shelter school located east of Gaza City.

According to information received by Euro-Med Monitor, Israeli sniper and shooting operations in different locations of Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, resulted in the deaths of at least eight Palestinians in the early hours of Friday.

Six people were shot dead by Israeli army snipers while trying to get drinking water close to the hospital. On Thursday afternoon, reports regarding their recovery and transfer to the Nasser medical complex in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, reached Euro-Med Monitor.

The same day, an Israeli quadcopter drone opened fire at a refugee school close to the Al Awda schools, east of Khan Yunis, resulting in the deaths of two Palestinians and the serious injuries of a third, according to accounts sent to Euro-Med Monitor.

The 14-year-old girl Ru'a Atef Qadeeh was shot dead by Israeli army snipers in front of the Nasser Medical Hospital gate in Khan Yunis on Wednesday morning, according to footage captured by Euro-Med Monitor teams. The teenager was trying to get water from somewhere nearby.

The Geneva-based organisation further stated that Muhammad Diab Abdel Qader Barhoum was shot and killed by a quadcopter drone on Tuesday, February 4, just before noon, while travelling to Al-Nasr town, which is located north of Rafah City, to feed his sheep.


Four Palestinians, including Hadaya Hamad, the director of the department of youth and volunteers, were killed on February 2 by Israeli army snipers stationed near the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Khan Yunis.

The Israeli army's snipers shot and killed the security guard at the PRCS-run Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis on January 31 when he was standing close to the hospital's rear entrance.

Numerous Palestinian citizens have been murdered or injured by Israeli snipers and quadcopter drones since the start of the Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip and the ground incursions that began at the end of October last year.

According to testimonies gathered by Euro-Med Monitor, the Israeli army has begun to employ quadcopter drones in a systematic and widespread manner to carry out extrajudicial executions and premeditated killings of Palestinian people. When the Israeli army leaves the region where incursions and raids have taken place, these drones are specifically utilised against people who try to go back and check on their houses.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reports that medical personnel observed that the majority of victims of executions and field killings had evidence of unusual gunshots on their bodies. These gunshots are distinct from regular gunshots in that the victim's body takes on a different shape when they are fired—from quadcopter drones, rather than rifle-type weapons.

This drone was originally intended for photography, but the Israeli army modified it to use as an air weapon for intelligence collection and then used it to kill targets directly and deliberately.

The one-meter-diameter quadCopter drones, created by Israeli military enterprises, have a variety of functions and tactical capabilities. They have a design similar to a helicopter's, making them simple to electronically operate and programme remotely.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented, in a primary report sent to UN special rapporteurs and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) last December, numerous instances of field executions conducted by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. The human rights organisation demanded that these atrocities be looked into straight away, that those responsible be held accountable, and that all victims receive justice.

The human rights organisation urged the previously listed parties to declare their opposition to the numerous killings of Palestinian people by Israeli troops, particularly the field executions and physical liquidations that occur in the Gaza Strip.

Euro-Med Monitor also insisted on the creation of an international legal team, a guarantee to gain access to the Gaza Strip, and the start of an investigation into this and other cases of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli forces.

The UN special rapporteurs and the ICC Prosecutor must establish international human rights committees that would travel to the Gaza Strip and compile evidence of the extent of Israel's crimes against Palestinian civilians, as stated once again by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
 

The right to life guaranteed by Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—which states that "Every human being has the inherent right to life"—is also violated by these Israeli executions, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The law will uphold this right. Nobody's life may be taken from them without cause.