The move comes in the wake of earlier allegations concerning the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians at the hands of Israeli forces.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on the Israeli authorities to immediately investigate allegations that its forces killed at least eleven unarmed Palestinian men in front of their families in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement on Wednesday, the OHCHR said the “disturbing information” that it had received “raises alarm about the possible commission of a war crime.”
It said this comes in the wake of earlier allegations concerning the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians at the hands of Israeli forces.
Witnesses confirmed to QNN that Israel's military started committing mass field executions against civilians in the north of Gaza today.
(Illustrative photo) pic.twitter.com/IHTkcKxxxr
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 20, 2023
“The Israeli authorities must immediately institute an independent, thorough and effective investigation into these allegations, and if found to be substantiated, those responsible must be brought to justice and measures implemented to prevent any such serious violations from recurring,” the OHCHR said.
The office said that on December 19, between 8 and 11 pm, the “IDF reportedly surrounded and raided Al-Awda building, also known as the ‘Annan building’, in Al-Rimal neighborhood, Gaza City, where three related families were sheltering there, in addition to the Annan family.”
“The IDF allegedly separated the men from the women and children, and then shot and killed at least 11 of the men, mostly aged in their late 20s and early 30s, in front of their family members”, the statement said.
Reports and images filtering out from Abu Ghazala School west of Jabalia of a new execution style massacre of sheltering civilians by Israeli soldiers
“The Israeli soldiers executed those innocent families at point blank,” one witness said https://t.co/Bi3ogZ9c2c
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 13, 2023
This is according to witness accounts circulated by media sources and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, the statement said.
“The IDF then allegedly ordered the women and children into a room, and either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room, reportedly seriously injuring some of them, including an infant and a child.”
OHCHR has confirmed the killings at Al-Awda building, although the details and circumstances of the killings are still under verification, the statement said.
The Israeli military has not released any information on the incident, it added.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women, and 52,600 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7. Palestinian and international estimates say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
