Israeli use of heavy bombs raise 'serious concerns' under laws of war: UN
GENEVA
Israel's repeated use of heavy bombs in the densely-populated Gaza Strip indicates repeated violations of the laws of war, the U.N. said on Wednesday, highlighting six attacks that killed at least 218 people.
In a fresh report, the United Nations rights office provided details on the six attacks, which it said were emblematic of a concerning pattern, involving the suspected use of up to 2,000-pound bombs on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps and a market.
The rights office said it had verified 218 deaths in those attacks, which were carried out in the early months of the war that erupted in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, but said it had information indicating the number of fatalities "could be much higher.”
"The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid or at the very least minimize to every extent civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel's bombing campaign," U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
The report concludes that the series of Israeli strikes, exemplified by the six attacks carried out between Oct. 9 and Dec. 2 last year, suggested that Israel's military had "repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the laws of war,” the statement said.
Among the attacks listed were the strikes on Ash Shujaiyeh neighbourhood, in Gaza City on Dec. 2 last year.
It caused destruction across an approximate diagonal span of 130 meters, destroying 15 buildings and damaging at least 14 others, it said.
The extent of the damage and the craters visible and seen on satellite imagery indicated that around nine 2,000-pound GBU-31 bombs were used, it said, adding that it had received information that at least 60 people were killed.
GBU-31s, along with 1,000-pound GBU-32s and 250-pound GBU-39s "are mostly used to penetrate through several floors of concrete and can completely collapse tall structures," U.N. rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters.
Palestinian Wafa news agency on Wednesday reported that at least seven people were killed overnight in Israeli air strikes on tents in the Al Mawasi humanitarian area in western Rafah.
Athens: Greece must host Gaza children
Meanwhile, commenting on the increasing civilian death toll in the war, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis told the media that Europe must host children hurt and traumatized by the war.
“We need to face this tragedy very clearly. Europe should be open to injured people from Gaza but also children who are facing famine or other sorts of dangers.”
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Wednesday that at least 37,396 people have been killed in the territory during more than eight months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.