Israeli military’s airstrikes on Gaza Strip ‘may amount to war crimes,’ HRW says

The Israeli military’s airstrikes that destroyed four high-rise buildings in Gaza City during its May aggression “apparently violated the laws of war and may amount to war crimes,” Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

HRW also said the attacks, which “may amount to war crimes”, damaged neighboring structures, made several dozen families homeless, and shuttered scores of businesses that provided livelihoods to many people.

Between May 11 and 15, Israeli occupation forces attacked the Hanadi, al-Jawhara, al-Shorouk, and al-Jalaa towers in the densely populated al-Rimal neighborhood.

Three buildings were immediately leveled while the fourth, al-Jawhara, sustained extensive damage and is slated to be demolished.

Israeli occupation authorities “contend that Palestinian armed groups were using the towers for military purposes, but have provided no evidence to support those allegations,” the leading international human rights group said.

Human Rights Watch said it found no evidence that members of Palestinian factions involved in military operations had a current or long-term presence in any of the towers at the time they were attacked.

“Even if there were such a presence, the attacks appeared to cause foreseeably disproportionate harm to civilian property,” it added.

“The apparently unlawful Israeli strikes on four high-rise towers in Gaza City caused serious, lasting harm for countless Palestinians who lived, worked, shopped, or benefitted from businesses based there,” said Richard Weir, crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“The Israeli military should publicly produce the evidence that it says it relied on to carry out these attacks.”

The towers contained scores of businesses, offices of news agencies, and many homes.

Jawad Mahdi, 68, an owner of al-Jalaa tower who lived there with dozens of family members, said, “All these years of hard work, it was a place of living, safety, children and grandchildren, all our history and life, destroyed in front of your eyes … It’s like someone ripping your heart out and throwing it.”

In its deadly aggression on the Gaza Strip, Israel killed 260 people in Gaza, at least 129 of them civilians, including 66 children, the United Nations reported.

Palestinian authorities in Gaza said that 2,400 housing units were made uninhabitable, while over 50,000 units were damaged, and over 2,000 industrial, trade, and service facilities were destroyed or partially damaged.

The long-term effects of the attacks extend beyond the immediate destruction of the buildings, Human Rights Watch said. Many jobs were lost with the closure of their companies and many families were displaced.

Mohammed Qadada, 31, the head of a digital marketing company located in Hanadi tower, said that the 30 employees affected include people who “have families of their own, who were just entering into marriage, who support their elderly parents, who have sick members of the family who need financial support.”

He said they “won’t find work again because the equipment that they had allowed them to do rendering, designing, producing, [has] all been destroyed. So how can they do the work?”

Under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, warring parties may target only military objectives. In doing so, they must take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, and unless circumstances do not permit, provide effective advance warnings of attacks, HRW noted.

It continued, “Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects are prohibited, including reprisals against civilians. The laws of war also prohibit indiscriminate attacks, which include attacks that do not target a specific military objective or do not distinguish between civilians and military targets. Attacks in which the expected harm to civilians and civilian property is disproportionate to the anticipated military gain are also prohibited.”

“Personnel or equipment being used in military operations are subject to attack, but whether that justifies destroying an entire large building where they might be present depends on the attack not inflicting disproportionate harm on civilians or civilian property.”

“The proportionality of the attack is even more questionable because Israeli forces have previously demonstrated the capacity to strike specific floors or parts of structures,” HRW stated.

“However, these attacks completely flattened three of the buildings, evidently by attacking their structural integrity. Regarding al-Jalaa tower, the Israeli military said that because armed groups had occupied multiple floors, the entire tower needed to be destroyed.”

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