The
Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness) strongly condemns the
horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces on Thursday
morning, April 17, 2025, by directly targeting tents housing displaced people
in the "Al-Mawasi" area, west of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza
Strip, killing 16 civilians, most of them women and children, and wounding 23
others, according to the Civil Defense in Gaza.
Al-Mawasi area is one
of the areas previously designated by the occupying forces as safe areas and
called on civilians to flee to them, which makes this targeting a systematic
and deliberate deception against the civilian population. The targeting of tents
of displaced people, who are among the most vulnerable, constitutes a flagrant
violation of the principles of international humanitarian law, in particular the principles of distinction and
proportionality.
(Witness) affirms that what is happening in
the Gaza Strip today, including bombardments of shelters and camps for
displaced people, amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity, under
the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 8, that requires
urgent international investigation and legal accountability in international
forums. This dangerous escalation also constitutes a new episode in a series of
crimes and violations targeting Palestinians as part of the policy of
collective punishment and forced displacement.
We
at (Witness) hold the occupation authorities fully responsible for this crime,
and we call on the international community, especially the High Contracting
Parties to the Geneva Conventions, to assume their legal and moral
responsibilities, and to take urgent and effective measures to stop the crimes
committed in the Gaza Strip, and to hold those responsible accountable before
the competent international courts, including the International Criminal Court.
(Witness) calls on the international
community, including the Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to act immediately to
stop the ongoing aggression against civilians in Gaza. It also calls for
pressure to ensure urgent and unhindered humanitarian access to displacement
and shelter areas.
We
also call for an urgent and transparent international investigation into this
massacre and other crimes committed against civilians in the Gaza Strip, and
for immediate protection of displaced persons and shelters, which have become
frequent targets of Israeli attacks, in flagrant violation of all humanitarian
norms.
The Palestinian Association for Human
Rights (Witness)
Beirut on 17/04/2025