Human Rights Watch said that Israel did not provide any evidence proving Hamas’ use of medical facilities in the Gaza Strip, and called for an investigation into Israeli attacks against those facilities as war crimes.
According to the organization, what was said about “intelligence evidence” does not justify depriving hospitals and ambulances of the protection stipulated by international humanitarian law.
The organization added that the repeated, apparently unlawful, Israeli attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport means are destroying the health care system in Gaza, and must be investigated as war crimes.
The organization said that it investigated attacks on a number of hospitals, or near them, between October 7 and November 7. She spoke to displaced witnesses, 16 medical workers and hospital officials in Gaza, and analyzed and verified open source data, including videos posted on social media and satellite images, in addition to World Health Organization databases.
The organization concluded, as it said, that it was unable to confirm the Israeli allegations, and that it did not see any information that justified the attacks on Gaza hospitals.
The organization warned that hospitals and other medical facilities are civilian objects that enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war.
The organization urged Israel to end its illegal attacks as well as its siege of the Strip, which amounts to the war crime of collective punishment.
The organization called on the United States, Britain, Germany, and other countries to suspend their military aid to Israel as long as its forces continue to commit serious and widespread violations against Palestinian civilians.
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