A Palestinian boy salvages belongings from a destroyed home following Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 18, 2023. (Photo by Said Khatib / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: The direct air attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza that killed nearly 500 people is a flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention and a war crime, said global education foundation Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, one of the largest global foundations for development and education.
In a statement issued today, October 18, 2023, it added that this attack on a hospital follows the direct bombing of two UNRWA school shelters in which six people were killed.
"On the 11th day of the bombing of Gaza, it is clear that hospitals and schools, which are providing lifesaving medicine and sheltering innocent civilians, are being deliberately targeted. The siege of Gaza continues with no access to clean water, food, energy, medicine and emergency services. Nowhere is safe in Gaza," added EAA in its statement.
EAA added that it deplores these deliberate, intentional, systematic war crimes designed to kill and starve civilians, thereby causing the violent displacement of Palestinians from their homes.
EAA and its partners called for immediate unimpeded humanitarian access to provide clean water, food and emergency services to the people of Gaza.
It called on the ICC and the Member States of the UN to act collectively to preserve the sanctity of the rule of law and human dignity. It further demanded the use of the legal mechanisms that were designed to ensure accountability for these very war crimes.
"We specifically call upon the Prosecutor of the ICC to expand its present investigation on the situation in Palestine to extend to any past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed on any part of the territory of Gaza, by any person, during the period starting from 07 October 2023 onwards,” added the statement.
