Gaza City: Attacks by Israel that destroyed four high-rise buildings in Gaza city during the May conflict might amount to war crimes, a prominent international human rights organization said on Monday.
“The Israeli military’s airstrikes that destroyed four high-rise buildings in Gaza City during the May 2021 fighting apparently violated the laws of war and may amount to war crimes,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
Israel claimed that the high-rise structures held offices of armed Palestinian groups, including unit headquarters, military intelligence, and offices for “the most valuable Hamas technological equipment” for use against Israel. However, the rights group said there was no proof that members of Palestinian militant groups were present in any of the towers when they were targeted.
“The apparently unlawful Israeli strikes on four high-rise towers in Gaza City caused serious, lasting harm for countless Palestinians who lived, worked, shopped, or benefitted from businesses based there,” crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch Richard Weir said, adding that “the Israeli military should publicly produce the evidence that it says it relied on to carry out these attacks.”
HRW acknowledged that personnel or equipment being used in military operations are subject to attack. Whether that justifies destroying an entire building where they might be present non-combatants, however, depends on the attack not inflicting disproportionate harm on civilians or civilian property, the group said.
Citing international humanitarian law, which obligates warring parties to target only military objects in times of conflict, the watchdog said that the strikes on the four towers which it investigated had caused disproportionate harm to civilian property.
The latest round of hostilities in the Gaza Strip lasted for 11 days until an Egypt-brokered ceasefire on May 20. The conflict came after days of clashes between the Arab population and the Israeli police in East Jerusalem over an Israeli court’s decision to evict several Palestinian families from a holy city neighbourhood.
