Independent experts have warned that the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab, her family, and two paramedics could constitute a war crime.
The experts condemned Israeli claims that its troops were not present in the area at the time as “unacceptable”. They also called for an immediate halt to the attacks on Gaza’s civilian population, which have resulted in the killing of over 38,000 Palestinians, including 13,000 children, cautioning that the widespread nature of these attacks might amount to a crime against humanity.
“The absence of proper investigation and accountability, more than five months after the tragic killing of Hind and six other members of her family trapped in a car which came under Israeli fire in Gaza is deeply troubling and may in itself amount to a violation of the right to life,” the experts said.
“The brutality of these killings seem to illustrate how reckless the army has been in its Gaza campaign: all instances of extrajudicial killing must be duly investigated and accounted for,” they added.
The experts stated that Hind’s family, like many others in Gaza, had been forcibly displaced multiple times due to the Israeli aggression on the Strip.
They were killed, as per the experts, while fleeing the neighborhood of Tal al-Hawa in search of safety, which appears to be part of a broader pattern of indiscriminate killings of civilians trying to escape the relentless Israeli bombardment in Gaza following so-called “evacuation” orders from the Israeli military.
Not an isolated incident
The experts emphasized that the Israeli killing of Hind Rajab and her family is not an isolated incident but part of a troubling pattern.
“We are extremely troubled by the pattern of apparent indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civillians in Gaza, including on locations used for humanitarian assistance or to shelter IDPs,” they said.
source: AlMayadeen
