LONDON, (PIC)
During a press conference on Monday, the International Center of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) announced that it has established a special investigation unit to look into potential war crimes in Gaza.
According to the London-based organization, “collected evidence confirms that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
In an effort to gather additional evidence, the ICJP also declared that it would collaborate with the London Police War Investigation Unit.
Renowned UK doctor Ghassan Abu-Sitta spoke at the press conference, saying that during his work at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, he documented that 45% of those with burns were children.
After 43 days volunteering amidst the Israeli bombardment of the besieged enclave, Abu-Sitta described the horror and devastation unfolding there.
The award-winning plastic and reconstructive surgeon offered chilling first-hand testimony about the dead and injured civilians across three Gaza hospitals: Al-Shifa, Al-Ahli and Al-Awda. The three hospitals are no longer in operation due to Israel’s bombardment, said Abu-Sitta, and northern Gaza has been left without a single medical facility.
Recalling his initial days there, Dr. Abu-Sitta stated that children made up almost half of the injured populating the hospital’s underfunded wards, with residential buildings evidently the main targets for bombings. He performed multiple amputations in a single night using dwindling stocks of anesthetic to operate on limbs destroyed by illegal weapons such as white phosphorous, as well as wounds consistent with experimental fragmentation missiles. Such weapons result in complex wounds, which require higher skill levels to treat.
Colleagues paid with their lives for their dedication to their patients, said Abu-Sitta. He mentioned Dr Midhat Saidam as an example. The 47-year-old surgeon had not left Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City for more than a week, and when he finally did go home to rest, he was killed along with his entire family by an indiscriminate Israeli bombing.
Palestinian doctors in Gaza faced direct military intimidation from the Israelis. Abu-Sitta recounted phone conversations between the head of Al-Ahli Hospital and Israeli officials prior to the October 17 massacre. Abu-Sitta had relocated to Al-Ahli Hospital for a brief period. Like Al-Shifa, Al-Ahli also functioned as a refugee shelter.
Departing to the south of Gaza, he saw the “dystopian nightmare” made real. Bodies of dead Palestinians were strewn across the smoldering ruins leading up to congested narrow checkpoints no more than a few meters wide. Israeli soldiers were placed on either side, barking orders while manning facial recognition cameras. Abu-Sitta also recounted the shock of seeing mass public strip searches at gunpoint. Around 15 handcuffed Palestinians were forced to kneel naked as Israeli soldiers carried out a strip search on the side of a narrow checkpoint on the road to the south.
Abu-Sitta is expected to give evidence to the Metropolitan Police, said ICJP founder Tayyib Ali during his opening remarks at the press conference.
