GAZA, (PIC)
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has revealed new details about a horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army against the “Juha” family, resulting in the martyrdom of approximately 90 civilians, including 71 women and children, and injuring dozens more. This occurred due to the deliberate targeting of their home without prior warning or any military necessity, as part of the genocide that Israel continues to perpetrate against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.
The Euro-Med Monitor stated in an investigation published on Monday that the occupation targeted the Juha family’s building as part of the large-scale military assault launched against Palestinian civilians in the eastern areas of Gaza City, immediately after the first ceasefire ended in early December 2023.
At that time, the attack focused on dense residential neighborhoods, including the Shuja’iyya neighborhood and the Sha’af area where the Juha family building is located.
Details of the attack
The Euro-Med Monitor revealed that Israeli warplanes targeted the Juha family’s home in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City on the morning of December 6, 2023. The house, consisting of two adjoining buildings, was struck by at least one bomb in a surprise attack without any prior warning, resulting in its complete destruction and flattening over the heads of all its occupants, marking one of the most heinous massacres committed by the occupation army during its genocide against the Palestinians in the Strip.
According to the investigation’s findings, the house was sheltering about 117 people at the time of the targeting, most of whom were women, children, and the elderly, including its primary residents and several relatives who had been forcibly displaced from the nearby Zaytoun area. The bombing resulted in the martyrdom of the majority of those inside the house, while others were injured, and some were rescued with difficulty from under the rubble, while others were thrown outside the building due to the force of the explosion. The number of injured reached at least 17, with injuries ranging from fractures, wounds, and burns, to cases of amputations.
The violent explosion caused the bodies of many victims to be torn apart, with their remains scattered in the street, forming piles, while parts were thrown onto the roofs of nearby buildings due to the explosion’s intensity. Around 56 bodies were retrieved from under the rubble, while the bodies of more than 34 others remain trapped beneath the debris.
Challenges faced by residents
Residents faced immense challenges in rescue operations, especially with the disruption of communication and internet services at the time, making it nearly impossible to contact civil defense teams or ambulances. In the absence of any official response, members of the “Juha” family and local residents had to intervene themselves, using their hands and simple tools to try to retrieve victims from beneath the rubble.
Field investigation
As part of its investigations, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor conducted several field visits to the site of the “Juha” family massacre to document the extent of the destruction, the nature of the weapons used, gather field testimonies from witnesses and survivors, and analyze the context of the attack within the broader assaults on the area. The team also interviewed nine survivors of the massacre, along with eyewitnesses from the local community to obtain accurate information about the incident and the circumstances surrounding it.
The Euro-Med team relied on photographs and video clips provided by eyewitnesses, as well as aerial and satellite images documenting the state of the building and its surroundings before and after the attack. The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor confirmed that its investigation found no evidence of any military targets inside the “Juha” family’s home or in its vicinity, either before or during the attack, including military installations or armed personnel.
As of the publication date of this investigation, the Israeli occupation forces had not issued any statement regarding the targeting and had not provided any evidence to prove the existence of any military targets in the building at the time of the bombing.
Serious violation
The investigation pointed out that the method of executing this attack, its timing, the type of munitions used, and the extensive random destructive effects it caused—especially in the absence of any military necessity to justify it—constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of distinction and proportionality, and the obligation to take necessary precautions, which legally bind Israel to respect under all circumstances without exception.
Consequently, the Euro-Med Monitor stated that the targeting of the “Juha” family and the actions involved represent a serious violation of international humanitarian law, constituting a series of “war crimes” committed by the Israeli occupation forces against civilians and civilian objects. Additionally, it represents a set of “crimes against humanity,” as these actions occurred within the framework of the widespread and systematic military assault launched by Israel against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.
Moreover, according to the Monitor, the targeting of the Juha family’s home, alongside the targeting of 436,000 homes—totaling about 92% of homes in Gaza—and the killing of more than 54,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom were residents, indicates a repeated and coordinated pattern of military attacks based on a systematic plan that cannot be justified by any military necessity, targeting Palestinian civilians for direct, intentional, and collective killing, alongside the systematic and widespread destruction of homes and shelters, as both are integrated tools aimed at achieving the same goal: the eradication of Palestinians in the region.
This pattern confirms the existence of a deliberate strategy to directly and collectively target Palestinian civilians, in parallel with the extensive destruction of homes and shelters, as they are integrated tools to achieve a single goal: the elimination of the Palestinian presence in the area.
Testimony of a survivor
In her testimony to the Euro-Mediterranean team, 14-year-old “Layali Raed Zaki Juha,” a resident of the targeted building and one of the massacre survivors who was rescued from the rubble, said: “I was sitting with my uncle’s family talking together. Suddenly, I felt nothing and found myself under the rubble, with flames surrounding us. My uncle’s family melted in front of me from the intensity of the fire; no one was there to get us out. My uncle’s family kept screaming: ‘Get us out, Father, get us out.’ My uncle ‘Iyad Zaki Juha’ replied that he couldn’t; the ceiling was collapsing on us. They could only dig a small opening to get us out. They were breaking with a hammer to pull us from under the rubble, and with great difficulty, they managed to pull us out.”
She added: “I lost my mother ‘Manal Talaat Muhammad Juha’ (40 years old) her leg, and I lost my brother, in addition to my uncle’s family and my grandfather’s family.”
Calls for action
Based on the findings of the investigation, the Euro-Mediterranean Monitor called on relevant international bodies to conduct immediate, independent, and impartial investigations into the circumstances surrounding the targeting of civilians in the “Juha” family massacre, and all other crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. It urged pressure on Israel to allow international investigation and inquiry committees into the region, in accordance with international law and International Court of Justice resolutions.
The Euro-Med Monitor called on the International Criminal Court to investigate all crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, including the “Juha” family massacre, and to expand the scope of the investigation into individual criminal responsibility for these crimes to include all those responsible, issuing arrest warrants against them all and prosecuting them in accordance with international law and the Rome Statute.
It also urged the court to acknowledge the reality of what is happening in the region and to address seriously and objectively the actions committed by Israel there as acts of genocide, as defined in Article 6 of the Rome Statute.
In addition, the Euro-Med Monitor called on all countries to support the work of the International Criminal Court in its investigations into the situation in Palestine by providing factual and legal memoranda regarding the crimes committed by Israel to the court, and not to obstruct its work in any way, cooperating to execute the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Army Minister Yoav Gallant at the earliest opportunity and handing them over to international justice, as well as executing any future arrest warrants that may be issued by the court against other Israeli officials.
The Monitor also called for the imposition of political and economic sanctions on Israel, a complete ban on the sale and export of weapons to it, and the cessation of all military and intelligence assistance immediately, halting all licenses and agreements related to arms and import/export, including dual-use materials and technologies that could be used by Israel against the Palestinian people.
