Politics Human rights activists condemn Israel's Gaza operation

Independent human rights experts accuse Israel of deliberately destroying the health sector in the Palestinian territory in its war against the Islamist Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. War crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in the process.

These experts are members of the commission appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to shed light on the situation in the territories occupied by Israel. The allegations are contained in their latest report.

They also assessed the treatment of hostages taken from Israel to the Gaza Strip a year ago and of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. They accuse both Israel and the armed Palestinian groups of torture and sexual violence.

The death of a five-year-old girl

According to the report, Israel arrested and tortured medical personnel, deliberately targeted ambulances and caused immeasurable suffering by attacking children's hospitals and neonatal wards in particular.

The commission accuses a particular army unit of killing a five-year-old girl named Hind Rajab, as well as six family members and two emergency workers who were trying to save her, by attacking her ambulance. Israel's army always argues that Hamas has misused hospitals as command centers and that terrorists are also among paramedics.

The commission demanded the immediate release of the hostages taken from Israel by Islamist extremists and an end to the attacks on health workers in the Gaza Strip. In order to tackle the causes of the conflict, Israel must end the occupation of Palestinian territories, withdraw settlers and pay reparations to victims.

The United Nations regards not only the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, but also the Gaza Strip as territory occupied by Israel, partly because Israel continues to control all access points. Israel maintains that the occupation of the Gaza Strip ended with the withdrawal of soldiers and settlers in 2005.

SDA