Israeli Human Rights Organization: Israel is fighting Palestinian civilians, not Hamas
According to a report prepared by Israel's B'Tselem human rights organization, Israel is not fighting Hamas, but Palestinian civilians in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
It is noted that the Israeli military claimed to have targeted Hamas member Wisam Ferhat in an attack on the Ash Shujaieh neighborhood of Gaza City on December 2, but in that attack, "Initial reports indicate that dozens of residential buildings were destroyed, dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured." people are still under the rubble." "Looking at these results, there is no doubt that this attack was unlawful," the report said.
The report, which focuses on the loss of legitimacy of any attack if it causes civilian casualties rather than military gain, notes that Israel has made two claims to justify crimes against civilians, but both are baseless.
The report noted that Israel "did its best to protect civilians, but Hamas used civilians as human shields and claimed that Hamas was responsible for civilian deaths." "This allegation shows that Israel's attacks, no matter how horrific the results, recognize no boundaries," the report said.
Israel's second claim is that it warned civilians living in the bombed areas to leave those areas and go to safer areas, and therefore "it is assumed that no one remains." It is noted that people cannot leave their homes. In addition, it is noted that even if residents leave their homes, it does not mean that the area can be bombarded on a large scale. "Because until the absence of residents in the area is proven, civilians will remain under the target," the report says.
Recalling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's threat that "revenge will be severe" from the first day, the report says that the policy of attacks on the Gaza Strip clearly shows the words of revenge made by Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
As a result of this policy, more than 15 thousand people, including more than 6 thousand children and about 4 thousand women, died as a result of hundreds of tons of bombs dropped in the Gaza Strip in the report: "Some neighborhoods, including high-rise buildings, were completely destroyed, many streets were turned into ruins. "There are still many people who cannot be brought out from under the rubble."
The report states that as a result of Israeli attacks, approximately 1.8 million people in the Gaza Strip have been displaced and these people have been deprived of food, drink and medicine in inhumane conditions, and that Israel has warned civilians before the attacks, but these civilians have no means of self-defense.
The report noted that Israel claims to have hit only military targets in Gaza, but has destroyed thousands of civilian homes since the start of the war, and noted that the people gathered in the south of the Gaza Strip currently have nowhere to go.
"Israel is not fighting Hamas, it is fighting Palestinian civilians," the message says.
The report also warned that thousands more civilian lives could be lost as a result of Israel's continued attacks, and called on Israel to abandon the policy, which it said would lead to a deepening humanitarian disaster by killing more people in Gaza.
It was announced that 1,200 Israelis, including more than 310 soldiers, were killed and 5,132 injured in the attacks that took place in Israel on October 7. According to the Israeli army, 83 Israeli soldiers were killed in ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, and 6 Israeli soldiers were killed on the border with Lebanon.
The government in Gaza reported that the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip reached 16,248, including 7,112 children and 4,885 women.
In addition, 263 Palestinians have lost their lives in attacks by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since October 7.
