Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has documented the execution of dozens of Palestinians by Israeli forces as they evacuate from Gaza City and its northern areas to central and southern Gaza despite posing no threat.
In a statement on Monday the Euro-Mediterranean Monitor stated that these individuals were targeted with live rounds and at times artillery shells intended for deliberate killing as they attempted to evacuate at the request of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) to the southern Gaza Valley region.
The Organization received testimonies from displaced individuals indicating killings at military checkpoints established by the Israeli army as part of its designation of a “corridor” along the main traffic artery Salah al-Din Road between 9:00 and 16:00 during daylight hours.
Similar killings occurred among evacuees inside Gaza City and its north as they attempted to leave hospitals schools and even the headquarters of the United Nations Development Program days ago seeking refuge from Israeli attacks.
Huda Hamad in her twenties reported that a young man was shot in the head at the Netzarim checkpoint on Salah al-Din Street while evacuating to the southern Gaza Valley.
Hamad stated that the shooting was sudden and terrifying for all evacuees despite raising their arms and waving mostly white flags.
Journalist Jihad Abu Shanab reported that Israeli forces heavily fired upon members of the Skeik family as they attempted to evacuate from the outskirts of the Remal area in central Gaza resulting in the killing and injury of several of them.
Awad Salim 54 stated that two young men were killed and five others were injured during their evacuation in three consecutive groups on the main Al-Wahda street shortly after leaving the Al-Shifa Medical Complex.
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor team received reports of missing persons and the bodies of Palestinian evacuees on the outskirts of Gaza City’s roads which the Israeli army had declared as “safe corridors” towards the south and southern Gaza.
Additionally the Monitor documented the continued artillery shelling and intense gunfire in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City as evacuees attempted to move towards the southern Gaza Valley.
Officials in the administration of the medical complex reported receiving threatening phone calls demanding the evacuation of medical teams and evacuees through the safe corridor. Upon compliance they witnessed a large number of bodies laid around the complex before being directly fired upon.
The same incident recurred on the past Saturday when dozens of evacuees including women children and the elderly attempted to evacuate the Al-Nasr Children Hospital while carrying white flags. However they were shot at forcing them to return inside the hospital.
It is worth noting that the IOF has set up electronic gates on Monday on Salah al-Din Road to inspect citizens and their belongings as they pass through.
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor expresses serious concern over the unjustified killing and targeting of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army while they are forcibly displaced through various means and pressure tools.
The Monitor warns of the repercussions of the Israeli insistence on evacuating hundreds of wounded and patients including those in intensive care units and newborns from hospitals in Gaza and its north without providing any safe means of transportation and necessary life-saving facilities.
The Israeli army had warned more than a million people – half the total population – to leave Gaza City and its northern areas less than a week after launching a destructive and unprecedented war on the Gaza Strip last October 7th.
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor has consistently raised serious legal and humanitarian concerns since the issuance of the Israeli evacuation order emphasizing that it constitutes forced displacement and transfer that violates international humanitarian law and may amount to a war crime.
The Monitor reaffirmed the necessity to ensure that hospitals and medical personnel enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law and any military operation or evacuation procedures around hospitals and civilian premises or inside them must take steps to protect patients medical personnel and other displaced persons and ensure their safety.
The Monitor urged the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to conduct an urgent and independent investigation into the extrajudicial executions suffered and still endured by Palestinian refugees. Those responsible including those who issued orders should be held accountable to bring justice to the victims.
