Euro-Med Monitor Archives - CrossFireArarbia

Bombing a Hospital!

CrossFireArabia
April 14, 2025

The Israeli forces’ deliberate destruction of Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital reflects a broader intent to systematically dismantle essential aspects of life in the Gaza Strip. This attack is part of a clear strategy to erode all means of survival by disregarding international legal protections for civilians in order to deliberately deprive them of basic living conditions and strike vital infrastructure; it demonstrates a calculated Israeli policy designed to induce a slow collapse and push the people in the Strip towards a total breakdown.

The Euro-Med Monitor emphasises that this escalation marks a dangerous phase in a systematic strategy meant to eliminate Palestinian civilians in the besieged enclave. The targeting of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is the targeting of Gaza City’s last refuge for the sick and wounded, who should always be protected, and of medical personnel working under catastrophic conditions to save lives. Bombing a hospital sheltering critically ill patients is a direct violation of the right to life and, in a broader context, is part of Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli aircraft struck the emergency building of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza City with two bombs at around 2:10 a.m. on Sunday 13 April 2025. The attack occurred less than 30 minutes after the hospital received an Israeli call demanding evacuation. The strike destroyed the building and caused particularly extensive damage to the reception area and emergency department, laboratory, and pharmacy, which all caught fire.

According to eyewitnesses, people sheltering inside the hospital and medical staff were forced to evacuate dozens of patients and wounded people—some in critical condition—from the hospital to the surrounding streets. Patients were left lying on sidewalks, exposed to the risk of death and denied access to medical care, highlighting the severity of the escalating humanitarian crisis. Following the evacuation process, an injured child, Hatem al-Nabih, died outside the hospital.

Israel has bombed al-Ahli Hospital, putting north Gaza’s last functioning medical facility out of service. Critically ill Palestinian patients were forced to flee the Christian hospital before dawn on Palm Sunday with only a moment’s notice. pic.twitter.com/gYiP893Kzh
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 13, 2025

As international law mandates the protection of medical facilities, the Israeli army’s order to evacuate the entire hospital within less than 30 minutes falls far short of the minimum standards required for a safe and effective evacuation. The order reflects a deliberate failure to provide genuine safeguards for civilians, including patients, the wounded, and medical staff. Given the Israeli pattern of issuing formal warnings to justify actions that still result in egregious harm due to the lack of time allotted for evacuation, Israel is not absolved of its legal responsibility.

Furthermore, the issuing of evacuation orders does not revoke a hospital’s protected status under international law, nor justify targeting and destroying it, especially when the facility plays such a vital role in the survival of civilians, as was the case with Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. An operating hospital remains a site of humanitarian use, and under no circumstances may civilians be deprived of its services, even after evacuation.

Demanding the immediate evacuation of a hospital overcrowded with critically ill patients, many of them on life support, amid a total blockade and absence of safe zones, cannot be seen as a humanitarian measure. Instead, it is an impossible demand—one that turns the so-called warning itself into a tool of coercive pressure aimed at the destruction of the population, both physically and psychologically. With no escape, refuge, or international intervention, this strategy deliberately drives individuals into a further state of absolute despair, as they see themselves being pushed towards a fate in which their people’s existence has been eliminated.

Israel’s claim of Hamas’ “military use” of the hospital is a familiar and well-worn justification that is often invoked to legitimise its systematic killings and destruction after the fact. This claim lacks credibility in the absence of concrete evidence, especially when considered within the broader context of the deliberate Israeli policy of targeting civilian infrastructure—most notably hospitals. Israel’s bombardment of these facilities has been central to its attacks, despite there being no legal basis for this type of targeting, as such buildings are protected under international humanitarian law.

The principle of proportionality prohibits civilian harm that is excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage. Therefore, the destruction caused by Israel’s bombing of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital and the consequent severe physical and psychological suffering inflicted on patients, medical staff, and displaced civilians who were seeking shelter there outweigh any claimed military benefit. There is no question, then, that the attack flagrantly violates international humanitarian law and constitutes an international crime warranting legal prosecution and accountability.

Euro-Med Monitor stresses that this attack is not the first to target Al-Ahli Arab Hospital since Israel began its genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. It is also part of a broader, systematic campaign to completely disable all health facilities in the besieged enclave. Following the destruction and shutdown of most other hospitals by Israeli forces over the past 18 months, Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was the last relatively functional hospital, serving over one million people in Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip.

Prior to the attack on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, media outlets close to the Israeli army published a video on March 21 showing Israel’s bombing and destruction of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in southern Gaza City. As one of the largest specialised hospitals, it served over 12,000 cancer patients. Israel had already targeted this hospital in November 2023 and again in mid-2024, after which Israeli forces turned it into military barracks. This action deprived thousands of patients of vital care, and led to the deaths of approximately 500 cancer patients due to lack of treatment.

Israel’s bombing of both Al-Ahli Arab Hospital and of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital—despite the latter being under Israeli control—indicate that these attacks are being carried out without any legitimate military necessity. They reveal that Israel’s true objective is not security, but the deliberate creation of widespread destruction and unliveable conditions in the Gaza Strip, with the ultimate aim of forcing the remaining Palestinian population to leave it.

Breaking | Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, which had been providing critical care to civilians in Gaza City amid the ongoing war, has been completely knocked out of service following Israeli airstrikes. pic.twitter.com/LT5ZJsQkLd
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 12, 2025

The ongoing targeting of hospitals and healthcare infrastructure in the Gaza Strip constitutes both a war crime and a crime against humanity. It exposes the systematic nature of the Israeli aggression and its goal of eliminating the civilian population by dismantling their most basic means of survival—most notably the healthcare system, which remains the last lifeline amid the ongoing genocide and total siege imposed on the Strip’s civilians.

Since 2 March 2025, Israel has blocked the entry of medicine and medical supplies along with all other humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, which was already facing a severe shortage of such supplies due to the strict blockade prior to the January 2025 ceasefire, shattered by Israel on 18 March. The crisis has been compounded by the escalating Israeli airstrikes and the rising number of casualties they continue to cause.

All states must fulfil their individual and collective legal obligations and take urgent action through all available means to stop Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. They must employ effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians, including by safeguarding medical facilities, health workers, the wounded, and the sick, to halt the continuation of Israel’s policy of mass extermination in the Strip.

Euro-Med Monitor calls on the international community to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law and the rulings of the International Court of Justice, and to hold it accountable for its horrific crimes against the Palestinian people. The international community must also enforce the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against the Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister without delay.

In addition, the international community must impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel for its systematic and grave violations of international law. These should include an arms embargo; a halt to all political, financial, and military support or cooperation; a freeze on the assets of officials implicated in crimes against Palestinians; and travel bans against these officials. Additionally, trade privileges and bilateral agreements that grant Israel economic advantages that enable its continued violations should be suspended.

All relevant states and entities must hold accountable those complicit in Israel’s crimes—most notably the United States and other Israeli allies that assist in enabling Israeli violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This includes aid and other forms of cooperation in the military, intelligence, political, legal, financial, and/or media sectors, as well as any other sectors that contribute to the continuation of the aforementioned crimes.

Israeli targeting of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is a deliberate assault on life and Gaza’s last refuge // @EuroMedHR https://t.co/hVcuoTIM6i @antonioguterres @UNOSAPG Virgina Gamba @mo_bleeker @IntlCrimCourt @KarimKhanQC @CIJ_ICJ #ICJ #ICC #R2P #PreventGenocide #ActToProtect
— Israel Genocide (@IsraelGenocide) April 14, 2025

Analyses

Why is Israel Torturing Its Prisoners?

CrossFireArabia
February 28, 2025

The physical and mental health conditions of the Palestinian detainees and prisoners released during the seventh round of the ceasefire exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip are shocking.

Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, who arrived in the Gaza Strip recently in exceptionally poor health, illustrates its ongoing use of torture to terrorise and persecute prisoners and detainees and break their will until the very end of their detention. The effects of torture were clearly evident, with the emaciated bodies of the released individuals reflecting the severity of systematic crimes and inhumane treatment that exceed all legal and moral bounds.

The repeated release of such visibly unhealthy individuals from Israeli prisons reveals that the heinous torture and willful medical neglect they endure have escalated to appalling levels. Euro-Med Monitor notes that the atrocities occurring in these prisons are among the worst violations recorded by human rights organisations worldwide.

https://twitter.com/EuroMedHR/status/1895193029843320974

In a blatant violation of the mandatory rules of international law—which forbid torture in all its forms and under all circumstances, without exception, and consider its commission an international crime that does not expire by statute of limitations—hundreds of released prisoners and detainees arrived in the Gaza Strip after midnight in exceptionally poor health. It became evident after their transfer to the Gaza European Hospital in the southern section of the Strip that dozens of them required urgent medical care because their bodies showed signs of torture and inhumane treatment, including deprivation of necessary medical care and treatment.

Along with severe weakness and exhaustion, the Euro-Med Monitor field team documented severe injuries among detainees and prisoners, including limb amputations and severe swelling brought on by torture. Some appeared incapable of walking without the assistance of friends, and others required immediate medical attention because their health was rapidly deteriorating.

Even though the majority of detainees were not charged with any specific crimes, many of them claimed that they were beaten, mistreated, and threatened right up until the very last minute before their release. Since being kidnapped from the Gaza Strip at various points following 7 October 2023, they were arrested or detained, tortured, and subjected to degrading treatment as part of a systematic policy designed to cause them severe physical and psychological harm. This policy is a part of Israel’s crime of genocide, which aims to destroy the Palestinian people in the Strip, either entirely or partially, by weakening the foundations of their survival and leading them to submission or extinction.

Furthermore, the Euro-Med Monitor team documented Israel’s ongoing use of psychological torture and humiliation against recently released prisoners through the enforcement of laws that directly incite violence and genocide. This official systematic incitement is a fundamental tool of Israel’s policies against Palestinians, particularly those in the Gaza Strip. One example of these measures is the prison authorities’ requirement that newly released inmates and detainees wear vests with official Israeli Prison Service slogans and threatening phrases in Hebrew, including religious quotations that express the principle of revenge and pursuit until liquidation. Additionally, they are forced to wear plastic wristbands with derogatory words printed on them to psychologically degrade them and highlight the fact that they are still being singled out despite being “free”.

The phrase “I will pursue my enemies and overtake them; I will not return until I have destroyed them” is printed on the vests of Palestinian detainees and prisoners who have been released, and is taken from a biblical passage (Psalm 18:37) that expressly calls for killing and genocide. This is a form of direct and public incitement to genocide, which is forbidden by Article 3 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

By depriving the Palestinians of their humanity and treating them as a legitimate target for killing and targeting, Israel’s actions go beyond psychological warfare and constitute a dangerous extension of institutional hate speech and a consolidation of the intention to commit genocide.

The violations which Palestinian prisoners and detainees are subjected to by Israel, whether while these individuals are being held or being released, gravely violate international law and represent a blatant disregard for its mandatory regulations that forbid torture and cruel or inhuman treatment without exception. The Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions provide complete protection for prisoners and detainees, and forbid torture, humiliation, or retaliation, making these crimes punishable by international law.

The death of detainee Raafat Adnan Abdul Aziz Abu Fanouneh (34), who was tortured and abused following his arrest in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, was announced yesterday (Wednesday) in Israel’s Shamir Medical Centre (formerly Assaf Harofeh). A minimum of 60 prisoners and detainees—as these are the only victims whose identities are known—have perished in Israeli occupation prisons since the beginning of the genocide, including at least 39 individuals from the Gaza Strip. This is the highest number ever.

Israel continues to commit the crime of enforced disappearance against hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, failing to disclose their whereabouts or medical conditions to their loved ones, which raises serious concerns about the safety and lives of the people being held. Israel also continues to conceal any information about them from the press, despite credible evidence that dozens of additional prisoners and detainees have been killed inside Israeli prisons and detention facilities.

In addition to being crimes against humanity and full-fledged war crimes, the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army and other Israeli security forces against Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip also amount to acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Strip, because they are carried out in a systematic and brutal manner. These acts include the killing of Palestinians and the infliction of severe physical and psychological harm, including torture, other forms of ill-treatment, and sexual violence, including rape, and are carried out with the goal of eradicating the Palestinian people as a whole.

All countries and pertinent international organisations must take swift and decisive action to end Israel’s widespread and systematic crimes of killing, torture, and other serious violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Detainees who have been arbitrarily arrested must be released without conditions, right away. Additionally, local and international organisations must be given immediate permission to visit detainees, who must be allowed the opportunity to choose their own lawyer.

Israel’s notorious arbitrary detention practices, such as administrative detention and detention under the “Unlawful Combatants Law”, must be stopped. These practices are a blatant violation of international law and are employed as a systematic, repressive tool to weaken the Palestinian will, tear apart the social fabric that holds them together, and deny Palestinians their fundamental legal rights.

To ensure justice for Palestinian victims and that the Israeli occupation is held responsible for its violations, human rights and media organisations must step up their efforts to pressure Israel’s government to stop its ongoing crimes. In addition, these groups must work to highlight the suffering of Palestinian prisoners and detainees and to share these individuals’ testimonies about the horrific crimes they face.

The International Criminal Court must investigate the crimes, submit specialised reports regarding the crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, particularly after 7 October 2023, and issue arrest warrants for all perpetrators. All concerned nations must make sure the perpetrators of these crimes are prosecuted and brought before the Court to stand trial.

Israel must immediately cease its crime of enforced disappearance against Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip; reveal all secret detention camps; reveal the names, whereabouts, and fates of all Palestinians it is holding from the Strip; and take full responsibility for the safety and well-being of these individuals. These demands must come from the international community.

Euro-Med Monitor

Analyses Features

Genocidal Maniacs: A Story of a Massacre

CrossFireArabia
February 25, 2025

As part of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, the Israeli army targeted the Juha family’s home without warning or military necessity. The attack resulted in a massacre that killed approximately 90 civilians – including 71 women and children – and injured dozens more.

According to a Euro-Med Monitor investigation, the Israeli military launched a massive assault against Palestinian civilians in the eastern parts of Gaza City shortly after the first truce ended in early December 2023. This assault included an attack on the Juha family building located in the densely populated Sha’af area, which, along with the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood, was a focus of the offensive.

https://twitter.com/EuroMedHR/status/1894041270512656660

In one of the most horrifying massacres carried out by Israel during its genocidal campaign against the Palestinians in the Strip, Israeli warplanes targeted the Juha family’s home in the Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City on the morning of 6 December 2023. At least one bomb was dropped on the house – a compound consisting of two adjacent buildings. The unexpected attack completely destroyed the building, killing all of its occupants.

Investigations revealed that 117 people were living in the building at the time of the attack, with women, children, and the elderly comprising the majority. This count included both the primary occupants and several relatives who had been forcibly relocated from the Zeitoun neighbourhood.

‘My uncle’s family was incinerated before me’: A new Euro-Med Monitor investigation into Israeli army’s massacre of 90 civilians from the Juha family in Gaza https://t.co/dlKydkgbyp
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) February 25, 2025

I couldn’t feel anything and found myself buried under the rubble, surrounded by a raging fire. The ceiling was collapsing on us, and they were only able to dig a small hole to reach us

Liali Juha, a survivor of the massacre who was pulled from under the rubble

Most occupants died as a result of the bombing, while others were injured—some were dragged out from under the debris, and others were thrown outside by the force of the explosion. At least 17 people suffered burns, wounds, and fractures, with some experiencing limb amputations.

The explosion ripped apart the bodies of many victims, leaving their remains lying across the street and even on the roofs of buildings nearby. Over 34 bodies remain buried beneath the debris, while the bodies of approximately 56 people were recovered from beneath it.

During rescue efforts, residents faced significant challenges, particularly because communication with ambulances or civil defence teams was nearly impossible due to disruptions in internet and communications services. With no official response, the Juha family and local residents took it upon themselves to rescue victims using only manpower and basic tools.

The Euro-Med Monitor team conducted multiple field surveys of the main site. The investigations involved gathering testimonies from witnesses and survivors, documenting the extent of the destruction and the types of weapons used, and analyzing the attack in relation to other incidents in the area.

For accurate information, the team interviewed local residents who were eyewitnesses and nine survivors of the massacre. The Euro-Med Monitor team reviewed satellite images and aerial photos that documented the state of the building and the surrounding area before and after the attack, as well as photographs and video clips provided by eyewitnesses. The team found no evidence of military presence, such as military installations or armed elements, inside or near the Juha family home before or during the attack.

Since the publication of the investigation, Israel has not issued any public statements about the targeting or provided proof that there were any military targets within the building when it was bombed.

https://twitter.com/EuroMedHR/status/1893977539531485628

The report concludes that the principles of distinction, proportionality, and the duty to take necessary precautions – standards that Israel is legally required to uphold – were seriously violated. The timing of the attack, the types of munitions used, and the widespread indiscriminate destruction are deemed unjustifiable.

Euro-Med Monitor asserts that the targeting of the Juha family represents a grave violation of international humanitarian law, constituting multiple war crimes against civilians and civilian property. These actions are described not only as fully-fledged crimes against humanity but also as part of a large-scale, organised military assault on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023.

The report further highlights that, in addition to the systematic and large-scale destruction of homes and shelters, the targeting of the Juha family home is emblematic of a broader pattern. This pattern includes the partial or complete destruction of 436,000 homes (roughly 92% of the homes in the Gaza Strip) and the killing of over 54,000 Palestinians, most of whom were inside their homes – indicating a deliberate strategy to target Palestinian civilians and infrastructure.

These events show a pattern of systematic and recurrent military attacks that are based on a plan that cannot be justified by any military necessity. This pattern indicates that there is a deliberate strategy to attack Palestinian civilians directly and collectively, while simultaneously destroying large numbers of homes and shelters, as two complementary strategies to accomplish a single goal: the elimination of the Palestinian population in the Strip.

Liali Raid Zaki Juha, 14, a survivor of the massacre who was pulled from under the rubble, recounted to the Euro-Med Monitor team: “I was talking with my uncle’s family when, suddenly, I couldn’t feel anything and found myself buried under the rubble, surrounded by a raging fire.”

“The fire was so intense that my uncle’s family melted before me, and there was no one to rescue us. My uncle’s family kept screaming for help—‘Get us out, Dad, get us out!’—with my uncle replying that he couldn’t,” she said. “The ceiling was collapsing on us, and they were only able to dig a small hole to reach us. They began smashing through with a heavy hammer to pull us from under the rubble, and after a lot of struggle, they managed to do it.”

“My mother, Manal Talat Muhammad Juha, 40, lost her leg,” Juha added, “I lost my brother, the family members of my uncle Iyad Zaki Atta Juha and the family members of my grandfather Zaki Atta Saleh Juha, 67, as well as my grandmother, Hadaya Nuzhat Saleh Juha, 51.”

Based on its findings, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor urged the relevant international parties to pressure Israel to allow international and UN investigation and inquiry committees into the Gaza Strip, in compliance with international law and the rulings of the International Court of Justice. The report calls for prompt, independent, and unbiased investigations into the targeting of civilians in the Juha family massacre and all other crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The investigation also urged the International Criminal Court to examine all of Israel’s crimes in the Gaza Strip, including the murder of the Juha family. It also called for the extension of criminal responsibility to all perpetrators, the issuance of arrest warrants, and trials in compliance with international law and the Rome Statute.

In accordance with Article 6 of the Rome Statute, the report called on the International Court to recognise the events in the Gaza Strip as a crime of genocide and to treat Israel’s actions with the seriousness they warrant.

https://twitter.com/NourNaim88/status/1831538877162520783

The report further demands that all nations cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s investigations by providing specialised factual and legal memoranda on the crimes committed by Israel, refraining from interfering with its work, and assisting in executing arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Galant.

Finally, the report calls for political and economic sanctions against Israel, an immediate halt to all arms sales, exports, and military and intelligence assistance, and the termination of all licences and agreements related to the import and export of weapons – including dual-use materials and technology – that could be used against the Palestinian people.

EuroMed Human Rights Monitor

Features

Despite Ceasefire Gaza’s ‘Humanitarian’ Crisis Remains Acute

CrossFireArabia
February 4, 2025

Sixteen days have passed since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions was announced, yet the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is still dire. Nearly all forms of aid remain disrupted, and the urgent humanitarian needs of the Strip’s roughly 2.3 million residents have not been met.

Despite the ceasefire agreement announced on 19 January, which reduced the intensity of Israel’s daily bombing and killings, the humanitarian situation and living conditions have remained dire, with homes and infrastructure in all its forms severely destroyed.

Though the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip has increased, the Euro-Med Monitor field team’s preliminary analysis of the volume and type of aid entering the enclave reveals that some of it is goods for merchants, i.e. non-essential items like snacks, which are not a priority for the people of the Strip. This is also true of other aid being delivered in trucks to international organisations within the Strip.

While hundreds of thousands of Gazans live in a tragic reality every day, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is only getting worse. International commitments have not substantially alleviated the suffering of the populace, as urgent humanitarian concerns remain unresolved.

Since the ceasefire agreement went into effect, about 8,500 trucks have entered the Gaza Strip, but only about 35% of them have made it to the northern part of the Strip. Emergency needs are estimated to require around 1,000 trucks per day, but the number of trucks that are able to reach the enclave does not exceed half of this daily need.

Euro-Med Monitor reiterates that many of the trucks that have entered are carrying goods for merchants rather than humanitarian aid, and the majority of this aid is non-essential.

There is an urgent need for temporary shelter in the form of tents and mobile homes, which were supposed to be introduced under the ceasefire agreement, because hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned from the south to their residential areas in the northern part of the Gaza Valley. So far, however, Israel has not fulfilled its end of the deal.

The initial need was estimated to be around 120,000 tents, but only 9,500 tents—the majority of which are small and of poor quality—arrived in the Strip. This means that the tents that have arrived only make up eight percent of the total emergency need, and that hundreds of thousands of residents lack adequate temporary housing due to the widespread destruction of homes and buildings across the Strip, particularly in Rafah, the northern Gaza Strip, and large portions of Gaza City and Khan Younis.

The Strip is receiving half of the agreed-upon amount of fuel and petrol needed to run the basic services sector, which is 30 trucks per day on average due to the urgent need to support emergency services, and 14 trucks per day on average.

Sanitary wares, water pipes, solar power, and materials for home restoration are additional urgent needs that would allow families to remain in their partially destroyed homes while any of these are being installed.

About 85% of the water wells in the Strip have been destroyed, and Israel has forbidden the importation of supplies to repair and restore them. According to estimates from the Gaza Municipality and the northern Gaza Strip municipalities, 100 wells in the northern Gaza Valley need to be restored and repaired immediately; none have been fixed thus far.

It is imperative that municipalities and service sectors install solar panels, water tanks, water extensions, and submersible pumps for water wells, plus electricity batteries, in order to meet the basic needs of people living in alternative housing areas.

To date, no suitable tools or systems have been permitted to clear debris, recover victims’ bodies, clear streets, or remove deteriorating structures that endanger the lives of locals in the Gaza Strip.

While only four pieces of equipment, including small ones, were brought in to repair the Rafah border crossing and the road leading to it, the ceasefire included an agreement to provide 100 pieces of various heavy equipment to open streets and retrieve bodies.

Regarding medical devices and equipment, none of the equipment needed to resume hospital operations, such as MRI machines, has arrived in the Gaza Strip. This is especially true for Al-Shifa Hospital, whose buildings and equipment were extensively destroyed and set on fire by the Israeli occupation army. Meanwhile, the European Hospital urgently needs to replace its malfunctioning MRI machine, and Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis has yet to receive one. The same applies to radiology equipment, as the Strip lacks all X-ray and C-Arm devices. Since their generators were destroyed or burned during the genocide, hospitals now require generators as well.

The lack of these essential components represents the parties’ inability to protect and care for those impacted by Israel’s genocide over a period of more than 15 months. This exacerbates civilian suffering, as does the delayed delivery of urgent humanitarian aid that the people are demanding.

The international community and mediators in the ceasefire agreement must act immediately and urgently to meet urgent humanitarian needs; activate support and assistance mechanisms to ensure the safety and dignity of hundreds of thousands of affected individuals; and ensure strict monitoring and independent investigations to secure the implementation of humanitarian and legal obligations, with the sole goal of protecting civilians and guaranteeing their basic rights.

Taking the needs of women, children, and members of the most vulnerable groups into account, swift action must be taken to appropriately address the immediate needs of the people living in the Strip. This includes providing adequate temporary housing; ensuring the entry and access of all humanitarian aid; and removing any restrictions or blockades that impede the provision of relief to the civilian population, including hospital services and access to water and education. Additionally, social and psychological support must be provided to address the devastating psychological effects of the genocide, particularly on children and survivors of direct attacks.

The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is worsening due to the international community’s ongoing inaction and indifference to the delayed entry of basic necessities. The international community must instead stand together and take immediate action to guarantee that aid reaches those in need as soon as possible.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

Features

US, Germany Complicit in Israel’s Gaza Genocide

CrossFireArabia
October 30, 2024

The Israeli army’s massacre in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, has already claimed a horrifying number of lives. Along with the occupying state, those nations who provide the Israeli army with weapons or keep quiet about its crime of genocide must also be held accountable.

The Euro-Med Monitor field team documented the bombing by Israeli aircraft of a five-storey residential building in Beit Lahia this morning (Tuesday 29 October). Owned by the Nasr family, the building housed approximately 200 displaced civilians, and was totally destroyed over the heads of its residents.

According to one of the survivors of the massacre, the building was completely destroyed by Israeli aircraft at five in the morning. The 200 people living there had been displaced from the Jabalia refugee camp and other neighbourhoods in northern Gaza after their homes and shelters were targeted by Israeli forces, and all of them were civilians with no ties to any militant groups.

Germany's Holocaust guilt cannot be a perpetual green light for the Zionist entity to commit genocide. It is complicit in Gaza Genocide. When will it end?https://t.co/08B4cnb6Qh pic.twitter.com/NXcSGpD8LY
— Media Review Network (@MRN1SA) October 30, 2024

While the man who spoke with Euro-Med Monitor survived after being pushed into a neighbour’s home dozens of metres away by the force of the explosion, his wife and four children were killed. He also suffered injuries all over his body. Dozens of victims remain trapped beneath the debris, he said, but some of the other residents managed to move him to Kamal Adwan Hospital, where he has been waiting for hours to be moved to Al-Awda Hospital for surgery, without success.

According to preliminary reports, the occupation army used a 908-kilogram American MK-84 bomb to target the residential building, crushing it on top of the occupants. The approximately 200 people in the building had sought shelter there following Israel’s illegal evacuation orders and destruction and burning of shelters in the Beit Lahia project, Jabalia, and Jabalia’s camp, and he noted that many victims of today’s attack were crudely recovered by the local population due to the suspension of ambulance and civil defence services in northern Gaza because of repeated Israeli attacks. The bodies of about 93 victims were recovered by the area’s residents, and dozens more are still missing and stuck under the rubble.

Israeli aircraft also conducted a raid on the area around Beit Lahia’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, where the occupation forces arrested the majority of the medical staff during last Friday’s hospital storming, leaving only the director working with the assistance of a single doctor.

In addition to using German mines in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army has regularly used the German “Matador” weapon to bomb and burn homes and kill Palestinians.

According to international law, particularly the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Israel has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, and the United States and Germany have been complicit in this crime by repeatedly sending Israel their weapons to massacre Palestinian civilians in large numbers and demolish their homes.

One of the most repulsive examples of racism and moral and political corruption on a worldwide scale is the disregard displaced by the international community and international justice systems over the course of the past year. The death toll has climbed from dozens to hundreds and then thousands without a single serious position being issued, and with many governments—particularly powerful Western allies of Israel—normalising the daily killings and massacres.

Since civilians do not endanger the lives of occupying forces, they are protected by international humanitarian law if they choose to stay in their homes or neighbourhoods during armed conflicts. According to Euro-Med Monitor’s investigations, the purpose of Israel’s killings and destruction is to eradicate the Palestinian people through massacre and forced relocation, not for any military purpose.

Euro-Med Monitor reiterates that, according to international humanitarian law, civilians who are unable or unwilling to leave a particular area are still entitled to the special protection that the law provides for them as civilians; their presence in any area does not absolve Israel of its obligation to provide and uphold this protection.

The international community and the United Nations must act right away to save hundreds of thousands of people living in the northern Gaza Strip; put an end to Israel’s second consecutive year of genocide across the entire Strip; impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel; hold it responsible and punish it for all of its crimes; and take all necessary steps to protect Palestinian civilians in the region.

EuroMed Human Rights Monitor