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SvennoJ on 13 July 2024
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Israel’s attacks on al-Mawasi safe zone breach international law

Israel’s attacks on al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian zone, are in breach of international law according to several legal principles, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese has told Al Jazeera.

Here are a few of her key quotes:

  • Proportionality: People in a safe area are protected under international law. If there is a military target within a safe zone, the action has to be proportional to the military advantage that is going to be achieved. Killing 70 people for one is not proportional.
  • Distinction: Israel must distinguish between combatants and civilians, but 70 percent of the victims in this conflict have been women and children.
  • Precaution: Nearly 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza [with Israel claiming to be attacking] claiming military targets. The reality is that there are no restraints whatsoever for Israel and Israeli soldiers.

“I’m disgusted by the tolerance of Israel’s impunity which is enabling the genocidal war,” Albanese said. In March, the UN expert issued a report listing “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.


Death toll in attack on al-Mawasi rises to 90

We’ve been reporting on an Israeli air raid on an area where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the Khan Younis governorate. The Ministry of Health is now saying that 90 people were killed in that attack, half of whom were women and children.

The ministry added that the number of injuries that resulted from this attack rose to 300.


Death toll from Shati attack rises to 20: Civil defence

The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza says 20 people are now confirmed dead after Israel bombed people who had gathered to pray near the ruins of a mosque in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.

More people remain in critical condition, the civil defence spokesperson said in a statement.

 

Nasser Hospital ‘extremely overwhelmed’ amid wave of wounded people: WHO

The World Health Organization says it is responding with partners to injuries resulting from the al-Mawasi attacks as “many remain missing under the rubble”.

WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “134 severely injured people have been admitted to Nasser Medical Complex, which is extremely overwhelmed by the influx of patients”.

He added that the UN agency “dispatched medical and trauma care supplies to cover the urgent needs of 120 people”. Patients were also taken to al-Amal, Kuwait and Al-Quds hospitals as well as other field hospitals.

Amy Kit-Mei Low, project medical reference at Nasser Hospital, told Al Jazeera that the hospital lacked pain medications to relieve patients with severe wounds. It also lacked enough monitors, intravenous cannula and fuel to power all operating theatres (OTs).

“There are three OTs but we only have enough fuel to operate one at a time,” she said. “There is a huge amount of suffering for the civilian population,” Kit-Mei Low added. “It’s horrible what they’re going through. I have no words to describe.”