Al Jazeera reporter witnesses Israeli attack on school
Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif was reporting on an Israeli attack yesterday that killed more than 17 displaced Palestinians sheltering at a school in central Gaza.
Israeli military claims based on evidence it has not produced
The Israeli army issued a lengthy statement saying it was targeting Hamas operatives in both schools that were attacked. It claims that Hamas was using both schools as military and command centres. But we have to note that no evidence was given to back up the claims.
Israeli army spokespeople say strikes used precise munitions to mitigate harm to the civilian population, saying that they did what they could to protect civilians on the ground.
We know that is simply not true because 80 percent of those killed are children.
The Israeli army maintains that Hamas is using civilians as human shields.
We’ve repeatedly heard claims from the Israeli military that Hamas is using religious facilities, civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, mosques, and churches as military command centres and headquarters.
But not once have we received evidence, photos or intelligence that the Israeli military continues to cite.
Israeli attacks on Gaza schools amount to war crimes
Israel is facing a real credibility problem as it keeps hitting schools with the excuse that Hamas fighters are being killed, according to Kenneth Roth, a professor at the Princeton School for Public and International Affairs.
“Just a few days ago, when Israel killed two Al Jazeera journalists, it said they were supposedly Hamas operatives while there’s no proof whatsoever of that,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Most people remember when Israel first invaded al-Shifa Hospital because there was supposedly a Hamas command centre there. The proof they showed there was pathetic. They showed a couple of rifles, one tunnel that turned out was built by Israel.”
But Roth said even if the Israeli claims were true, one of the requirements of international humanitarian law is that the attacker has a duty not to proceed if the harm to civilians will be disproportionate even if the target is military.
“If 80 percent of the victims are children, then it was not a proportionate attack. So it does not matter if there were a couple of Hamas fighters there or whatever the Israeli military claims. When you kill that many civilians, the result is disproportionate and that’s a war crime,” the former executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) told Al Jazeera.
The Israeli military claims its attacks are targeting ‘terrorists’, but most victims have been Gaza’s children
