Israeli tanks “deliberately” running over and crushing Palestinians, are part of ‘Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” says the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
The Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has denounced the Israeli army’s “serious crimes” of “deliberately” killing Palestinian civilians by “running them over alive with military vehicles.”
“These crimes are part of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, “the rights group said in a statement on Sunday.
It cited the killing of a man who was “deliberately run over” in Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood on February 29 after he was arrested.
The man was “subjected to harsh interrogation by members of the Israeli army, who bound his hands with plastic zip-tie handcuffs before running him over with a military vehicle from the bottom to the top of his body,” the organization said.
The incident occurred on the main Salah al-Din Street in the Zaytoun neighborhood, according to witnesses who spoke to the Euro-Med Monitor team.
“Israeli soldiers restrained the victim’s hands before they crushed him, and tramped on his body from the legs up, confirming that he was alive during the incident. To guarantee thorough and complete crushing, the victim was placed on asphalt rather than in an adjacent sandy area.”
Israeli tanks have deliberately run over dozens of Palestinian civilians alive, says Euro-Med Monitor https://t.co/Q4SxbvruRM
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) March 4, 2024
The organization said the victim’s “mutilated body and the surrounding area bear obvious signs that a military bulldozer or tank was present.”
“It appears that the victim was purposefully stripped of his clothes, as he was seen wearing only his underpants at the time of his death,” the rights body pointed out.
It also emphasized that “the ramming operation occurred before the Israeli army withdrew to the outskirts of the Zaytoun neighborhood two days ago, as evidenced by the condition of the entrails and other body parts, which had not yet decomposed when the case was documented.”
Crushed While Sleeping
Another documented incident took place on January 23, when an Israeli tank ran over members of the Ghannam family while they were sleeping in a shelter caravan in the Taiba Towers area of Khan Younis, Euro-Med Monitor said.
As a result, a man and his eldest daughter were killed, and his remaining three children and wife were injured.
Amina, his 13-year-old daughter, confirmed to Euro-Med Monitor that “her father and older sister were killed when an Israeli tank unexpectedly and repeatedly ran over the caravan, where the family had been sleeping.”
🔴I woke up to find myself among the tank treads. The tank ran over people I had seen then returned to run over them again
A Palestinian recounts the Israeli occupation tanks' invasion of the displaced people's tents#غزه_تموت_جوعاً #فلسطين #نداء_غزة_للأردن #Gaza #GazaCeasefire pic.twitter.com/qDI61UlWcG
— 7October ghada🇵🇸🔻 (@ghada_pales) February 27, 2024
While her mother and two other siblings survived the attack, Amina experienced extreme pressure in her eyes, nearly losing her sight.
Euro-Med Monitor also documented Israeli tanks and bulldozers running over and crushing displaced people inside their tents in Beit Lahia’s Kamal Adwan Hospital courtyard on December 16, 2023.
“Several people were killed during the incident, including individuals who were initially injured and did not ultimately survive.”
The corpses of those who had been previously buried in the courtyard were also crushed in the December 16 incident, stated the rights group.
Property, Vehicles Destroyed
More recently, it added, a Palestinian family survived a February 20 running attack after Israeli tanks ran over their tent on the shore of the Khan Yunis Sea.
“A female civilian said that she was shocked by the tank suddenly running over her tent,” Euro-Med said.
In addition, Euro-Med Monitor has documented numerous incidents of Israeli army tanks destroying civilian property, particularly cars, during Israel’s ground incursions into different parts of the besieged enclave.
“Most of these tank attacks have targeted vehicles parked in the streets without any military affiliation, indicating the Israeli army’s deliberate and systematic destruction of Palestinian property,” the statement said.
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All these violations, Euro-Med Monitor stressed, “are part of a larger Israeli effort to dehumanize every Palestinian in the Gaza Strip, in order to justify and normalize the crimes being committed against them.”
It stressed that “These practices reflect the desire of Israel’s government and military to collectively punish the Palestinian people, with the aim of eliminating, intimidating, and/or harming them physically and psychologically.”
These crimes come alongside “a public incitement campaign by Israeli officials, media figures, and settlers calling for the annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza.”
They are also “a result of the total impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators—evident by the absence of any meaningful action being taken to hold them accountable by any party or at any level.”
Criticism of the ICC
Euro-Med Monitor criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) for having “not yet taken any action or filed any charges in relation to the investigations it is supposed to be carrying out into the situation in the Gaza Strip.”
It said “Genocide is one of the most serious international crimes, with catastrophic consequences for civilians.”
“The Court has not said anything about the crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, even in the face of a plethora of evidence presented by Israeli officials and soldiers themselves, as well as warnings and documentary reports from international organizations, the United Nations and its experts, and the governments of many other nations,” the organization stressed.
The ICC’s last update on the situation in Palestine “was posted on November 17 on its official website,” Euro-Med pointed out.
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“This raises serious questions and concerns about its independence and integrity, as well as the extent to which it can perform its duties without becoming politicized or impacted by standards of duality and selective justice,” the organization stressed.
It called for the formation of “an independent international investigation committee specializing in Israel’s ongoing military attack on the Gaza Strip.”
The rights group also demanded that the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions visit the Gaza Strip as soon as feasible “to look into the illegal killings that fall under the purview of his substantive mandate.”
Rising Death Toll
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 30,410 Palestinians have been killed, and 71,700 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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