[News] New Gaza war crimes evidence sent to ICC
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Tue May 1 10:48:13 EDT 2018
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-gaza-war-crimes-evidence-sent-icc
New Gaza war crimes evidence sent to ICC
Ali Abunimah <https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah> - 30
April 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------
At least 28 Palestinians have lost limbs to Israeli snipers firing on
participants in the Great March of Return rallies near Gaza’s boundary
with Israel, according to Tareq Zaqoot, a field researcher with the
human rights group Al-Haq.
Zaqoot, who is in Gaza, and his colleague Rania Muhareb in the occupied
West Bank city of Ramallah, spoke to /The Real News/
<http://therealnews.com/t2/story:21664:Will-the-International-Criminal-Court-Prosecute-Israel-for-War-Crimes%3F>
about how they are documenting Israel’s crimes in order to seek justice
for the victims.
Muhareb revealed that Al-Haq, along with the Palestinian Centre for
Human Rights and Al Mezan, have already “made a submission to the
International Criminal Court indicating the names of the victims and the
killings that have been perpetrated by the Israeli occupying forces
since 30 March.”
Our investigation confirms Israeli forces shot 15-year-old Azzam
Hilal Riad Awaidah in the head with live ammunition in Gaza on April
27 at 6 pm local time. He was taken to European Gaza Hospital in
Khan Younis & was pronounced dead next day. #GazaReturnMarch
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/GazaReturnMarch?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
pic.twitter.com/8d4IJdZC3c <https://t.co/8d4IJdZC3c>
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) April 29, 2018
<https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/990572743715418112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
“We’ve not only indicated the names of those killed, we’ve also
indicated an intention to kill, and to shoot to kill Palestinian
protesters, which may constitute a war crime of willful killing,”
Muhareb added.
Watch the video of their interview above.
Muhareb cites as an example of such evidence the recent interview
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/snipers-ordered-shoot-children-israeli-general-confirms>
translated by The Electronic Intifada in which Israeli general Zvika
Fogel explains the careful process by which snipers receive
authorization to shoot at the “small body” of a child.
These human rights groups have previously handed over dossiers of
evidence
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/evidence-israeli-apartheid-pillage-and-murder-handed-hague-court>
to the ICC documenting crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West
Bank and during Israel’s previous assaults on Gaza.
Earlier this month, the ICC’s chief prosecutor issued an unprecedented
public warning
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/icc-warns-israeli-leaders-over-gaza-killings>
that Israeli leaders could face trial for their violence against unarmed
Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
In the last five weeks, Israeli occupation forces have killed at least
39 Palestinians
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/four-palestinians-killed-fifth-friday-protest>,
including five children and two journalists, during the protests along
the boundary.
The protesters are demanding an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza and the
right of return for Palestinian refugees expelled and excluded from
lands now in Israel because they are not Jewish.
On Sunday, three more Palestinians were reported killed
<http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780072> by occupation forces
following incidents in which the Israeli military claims Palestinians
tried to breach the Gaza boundary fence.
Veneer of legality
On Monday, Israel’s high court held a hearing
<http://www.mezan.org/en/post/22797/MEDIA+ADVISORY%3A+Israeli+Supreme+Court+to+hear+petition+against+Israeli+army+sniper+fire+on+unarmed+Gaza+protesters+tomorrow+at+9+AM>
on petitions <https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9488> by several
human rights groups demanding the revocation of the army’s open-fire
regulations that have led to the staggering toll of deaths and injuries
in Gaza.
The Israeli military’s “open-fire policy against protesters in Gaza is
patently illegal,” Suhad Bishara, an attorney for one of the groups,
Adalah, stated. “This policy perceives the [Palestinian] human body as
an expendable, worthless object.”
The human rights group B’Tselem has urged soldiers to defy
<https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/2180426_soldiers_hold_your_fire>
such illegal shoot-to-kill-and-maim orders.
In advance of the hearing, the Israeli military refused to publish
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-army-refuses-to-disclose-open-fire-policy-for-gaza-protests-1.6035708>
the open-fire orders, asserting that they are classified.
Israel has tried to present the mass protests in Gaza as a
Hamas-orchestrated plot to conceal “terrorist” activities.
Israel has not been able to show any evidence of armed activities during
the protests and its spokespersons have resorted to fabrications
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/amnesty-demands-arms-embargo-end-israels-murderous-assault>
– such as falsely claiming that a video shared online showed a young
girl in Gaza saying of Israelis, “we want to kill them.”
In the hearing Monday, Israel’s state attorneys continued to press this
narrative, arguing
<https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/990870740433100801> that
“classified intelligence” showed that the protests are “part of Hamas’s
armed hostilities against Israel.”
Good morning. Israel's High Court is hearing two petitions today
against IDF's rules of engagement on #Gaza
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
border. Human rights groups say Israel's shooting on unarmed
demonstrators. Israel says it's context of armed conflict with
Hamas. I'll be live tweeting. #i24NEWS
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/i24NEWS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
pic.twitter.com/RXJp6rY29L <https://t.co/RXJp6rY29L>
— Eylon A. Levy (@EylonALevy) April 30, 2018
<https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/990798600107167744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
And Israeli army lawyers are BSing live in the Israeli supreme court
now. I wonder how a statements like this fit with the videos of
14-year-olds getting shot in the headhttps://t.co/vNFzvagsA8
— Asaf Ronel (@AsafRonel) April 30, 2018
<https://twitter.com/AsafRonel/status/990874667274723328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
The Israeli court adjourned without giving a decision, however
historically its role has been to give a veneer of legality
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israels-high-court-champions-revenge-against-palestinian-families>
to Israel’s systematic violations of Palestinian human rights and to
help whitewash Israel internationally as a state that respects the rule
of law despite decades of unchecked impunity
<http://electronicintifada.net.tags/impunity> and lawless conduct.
Against the evidence
Over the weekend, the newspaper /Haaretz/ cited
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-officer-most-killings-during-gaza-protests-unintentional-1.6034421>
an unnamed Israeli army officer’s claim that “most of the Israeli army’s
killings of Palestinians during the Gaza border protests have resulted
from snipers aiming at demonstrators’ legs, with the killings an
unintentional outcome after a protester bent down, a sniper missed, a
bullet ricocheted or a similar phenomenon.”
According to the officer, /Haaretz/ stated, “open-fire directives on the
border only let snipers shoot at the legs of people approaching the
border, and that a person’s chest may be targeted only amid the other
side’s apparent intent to use weapons and threaten Israelis’ lives.”
But this flies in the face of evidence collected by human rights
investigators, and the claim may be an indication that some Israeli
officers are worried about the international consequences of the policy
of premeditated and calculated
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-leaders-ordered-calculated-killings-gaza-protesters>
killing and maiming.
Amnesty International stated
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/amnesty-demands-arms-embargo-end-israels-murderous-assault>
last week that in most of the fatal cases it had examined, “victims were
shot in the upper body, including the head and the chest, some from behind.”
“Eyewitness testimonies, video and photographic evidence suggest that
many were deliberately killed or injured while posing no immediate
threat to the Israeli soldiers,” Amnesty added.
Similarly, Adalah has stated that, “94 percent of the fatally wounded
were shot in the upper body (head, neck, face, chest, stomach, and back).”
More than 5,500 Palestinians have been injured, including almost 2,000
with live ammunition.
Not one Israeli has been reported injured as a result of the protests in
Gaza.
--
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