Amnesty International calls for investigating 2 Israeli attacks in Gaza as ‘war crimes’

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - An international rights group on Monday said that it has documented two Israeli attacks in Gaza last month in which 46 civilians, including 20 children, were killed and which must be investigated as “war crimes.”

"The attacks, which occurred on 19 and 20 October, hit a church building where hundreds of displaced civilians were sheltering in Gaza City and a home in al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza," Amnesty International said in a statement.

“Amnesty International, based on its in-depth investigation of these events, has determined that these strikes were indiscriminate attacks or direct attacks on civilians or civilian objects, which must be investigated as war crimes,” it added.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, the group's director of global research, advocacy and policy, urged the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to take "immediate concrete action" to accelerate the investigation into "war crimes and other crimes under international law opened in 2021."

"These deadly, unlawful attacks are part of a documented pattern of disregard for Palestinian civilians, and demonstrate the devastating impact of the Israeli military’s unprecedented onslaught has left nowhere safe in Gaza, regardless of where civilians live or seek shelter," she said.

Amnesty International also shared images from the targeted strikes as well as statements by survivors of the two attacks.

"We were sitting at home, it was full of people, of children, of relatives. Suddenly, without any warning, everything collapsed on our heads. All my brothers died, my nephews, my nieces… My mother died, my sisters died, our home is gone… There is nothing here, and now we are left with nothing and are displaced," Hani al-Aydi, who survived the strike, told Amnesty International.

Since Israel started bombing Gaza on Oct. 7, at least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 9,000 women and children, and more than 30,000 others have been injured, according to the latest figures by Palestinian authorities.

Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on the besieged enclave.

An Israeli blockade has also cut Gaza off from fuel, electricity, and water supplies, and reduced aid deliveries to a small trickle.

The Israeli death toll is around 1,200, according to official figures.