GAZA, (PIC)
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has called on the United Nations to declare northern Gaza a disaster zone, which would necessitate immediate interventions and compel Israeli authorities to halt the genocide occurring there, along with imposing a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Monitor highlighted that the Israeli army is committing systematic and widespread acts of collective and individual killings, deliberate starvation, mass forced displacement, and the complete destruction of what remains of the means of living. It emphasized that the international community’s deafness and inability to stop the ongoing atrocities makes it complicit in the most brutal genocide.
The Euro-Med said that its field team is documenting horrific crimes against civilians in the Jabalia camp and throughout northern Gaza, especially as the Israeli aggression has intensified, peaking on the evening of Friday, October 18. The Israeli army bombed several homes belonging to the “Hawajri,” “Nassar,” and “Abu al-Eish” families in the Tel al-Zaatar area of Jabalia camp, resulting in the martyrdom of 33 Palestinians and injuring over 70 others.
The human rights Monitor added that many other Palestinians remain unaccounted for, raising the death toll since the beginning of the recent assault on northern Gaza to 500 martyrs, with dozens still in the streets and under the rubble, in addition to thousands of injuries there.
The Euro-Med noted that Israeli occupation forces bombed a residential block crowded with dozens of civilians with numerous rockets, destroying it above their heads without any justification, other than the intent to kill the remaining residents and forcibly displace survivors from the camp.
It indicated that since the early hours of Saturday, Israeli occupation forces have besieged the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, targeting anyone moving in its vicinity, firing two artillery shells at it, and cutting off electricity. They also destroyed one of the hospital’s walls with bulldozers.
The rights group conveyed a statement from Dr. Munir al-Bursh, the director-general of the Ministry of Health, showing that occupation forces shelled the upper floors of the Indonesian hospital, where more than 40 patients and injured individuals, many in critical condition, along with medical staff, are located. He added that the army also targeted a group of displaced people in front of the hospital gate, while electricity was completely cut off, causing significant panic among patients and medical staff due to the ongoing and intense gunfire from the army near the hospital.
The Euro-Med Monitor reported receiving information about the Israeli army encircling four shelter centers around the Indonesian hospital. It noted that Israeli warplanes bombed the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, coinciding with the funeral ceremonies for the victims of the Tel al-Zaatar attack, resulting in the martyrdom of four citizens, including Bilal Abdul Aal, a doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital, after Israeli aircraft bombed his home in the al-Alami neighborhood of Jabalia camp.
The Euro-Med warned that the Israeli occupation army is systematically working to incapacitate the remaining healthcare system there, which is already functioning partially, and targeting its personnel. In recent days, the army has aimed at destroying the remaining water wells and bombed communication and internet facilities, leading to their disruption in the area.
The Monitor confirmed that over 400,000 Palestinians are facing the risk of death from bombardment or starvation in northern Gaza Valley, as Israeli forces have prevented any aid from entering since the beginning of the month, while continuing to invade northern Gaza since October 5.
The Euro-Med highlighted that its field team has documented hundreds of Israeli strikes and bombardments that have destroyed homes, shelters, and streets in northern Gaza, which have been ongoing without interruption for the past 15 days. Many victims and injured individuals remain in the streets or homes due to the difficulty in transporting them to hospitals, as Israeli forces impose a live-fire ban on the movement of ambulances and civil defense teams in most areas of Jabalia and its camp.
The rights group called on the United Nations to treat the situation in northern Gaza as a disaster zone, necessitating urgent interventions to compel the occupying authorities to stop their attacks against civilians, deliver life-saving emergency aid urgently, and halt the violent genocide being carried out against them.
It also urged international organizations and countries, both individually and collectively, to intervene immediately to save hundreds of thousands of residents in northern Gaza, stop the genocide being perpetrated by Israel for the second consecutive year, impose a comprehensive arms embargo on it, hold it accountable for all its crimes, and take all necessary measures to protect Palestinian civilians there.
