GENEVA, (PIC)
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the Israeli occupation army in Gaza is allowing its soldiers to engage in unethical practices against Palestinian civilians during home raids, including theft of property and looting.
The Euro-Med Monitor reported in a statement on Friday that it has documented a series of cases revealing the involvement of occupation soldiers in systematic theft of Palestinian money and belongings, including gold, cash, mobile phones, and laptops.
Testimonies collected by The Euro-Med Monitor indicate that the raids by the occupation army go beyond arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings to deliberate destruction of property and looting of personal belongings. Afterwards, the homes are set on fire, seemingly as a collective punishment against the Palestinian population.
The preliminary estimates by The Euro-Med Monitor, based on the testimonies it has gathered (which it continues to collect as of the date of the statement), indicate that the theft of personal belongings from Palestinian civilians and wide-scale looting of valuable possessions by the Israeli soldiers may amount to tens of millions of dollars.
Thabit Salim, a Palestinian interviewed by the Euro-Med Monitor team, stated that Israeli forces looted all the money and gold they found when they arrested him and his two sons from their home in the “Zaytoun” neighborhood in southern Gaza City. Salim was released two days ago, but he has no information about the fate of his sons.
Hassan reported that the amount of money taken by the soldiers from his house exceeds 20,000 US dollars, distributed in various currencies.
Um Mohammed Gharabia from the Shuja’iya neighborhood in Gaza City informed the Euro-Med Monitor team that Israeli forces forcibly took her gold jewelry that she was wearing during the raid on her house, and they arrested her husband and eldest son earlier this month.
Hussein al-Tanani, a resident of northern Gaza City, said that upon returning to his house, which had been raided by the Israeli army while they were displaced to a nearby United Nations school, they were shocked to find extensive damage to its contents, while their money and a computer were stolen.
The testimonies received by the Euro-Med Monitor are consistent with what was published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on December 15 regarding the Israeli army’s “seizure” of cash amounting to over 5 million Israeli shekels (approximately 1,351,350 US dollars), allegedly under the control of the “Spoils Unit” in the Technology and Logistics Division of the army.
The Euro-Med Monitor mentioned that the declared amount may be a small part of the theft and looting that soldiers have not reported, at a time when a video (whose date and circumstances could not be fully verified) circulated showing three soldiers personally selling stolen gold jewelry in a shop in the West Bank after it was stolen from a house in Gaza.
The Euro-Med Monitor pointed out that Israeli soldiers deliberately disseminate videos on social media platforms documenting their deliberate destruction of civilians’ homes in the Gaza Strip, or drawing racist or Jewish symbols on walls, in addition to boasting about seizing valuable money and possessions.
Aliya Al-Najjar, 34, stated in a media interview that she saw some of her gold jewelry, which she kept with her mother’s belongings, in one of the videos published by Israeli soldiers. Among them was a gold piece she bought with the value of her first salary as a teacher, which was a distinctive gold bracelet designed in the shape of a leaf made of 24-carat gold.
Al-Najjar mentioned that an Israeli soldier displayed her bracelet in a video inside a canvas wallet owned by her mother, in which she keeps other gold pieces and valuable possessions. She then commented on the video, saying to the soldier, “You are thieves,” before the soldier deleted the video.
Another video appeared showing an Israeli soldier displaying a silver necklace with the words “Made in Gaza” engraved on it, designed in the shape of a heart made of crystal, and he said he would give it to his girlfriend.
Another soldier appeared holding a musical guitar, playing and singing on top of the rubble of the destroyed houses in Gaza.
The Euro-Med Monitor for Human Rights called for a comprehensive and impartial international investigation into the serious violations against the population and their properties in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army, which continues to cause destruction and harm to civilians without any restraint or deterrent. It also called for measures to ensure legal accountability and prosecution.
