Targeting Al-Quds Hospital would be War Crime

Gaza, MINA – Kenneth Roth, a former executive director of Human Rights Watch, has warned that Israel could be violating humanitarian laws and rules of engagement, and could be charged with a war crime if it goes ahead with its threat to target Gaza’s Al-Quds Hospital.

“When you have 14,000 people in the hospital, many in critical situations where they can’t be moved, an evacuation order doesn’t suffice,” Roth told Al Jazeera.

“It is wrong to suggest that whatever military advantage coming from hitting the supposed Hamas facility underneath would justify the disproportionate harm to civilians,” he added.

While stressing that he believed Hamas also committed war crimes by attacking Israeli civilians, Roth said the actions of the armed group do not justify Israel’s decision to bomb civilians in Gaza.

“Under international humanitarian law, war crimes by one side do not justify war crimes by the other. Each side has an independent obligation to respect the laws of war,” said Roth, who is now a visiting professor at Princeton University.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society on Sunday said Israel threatened to bomb the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza and demanded an “immediate evacuation”, reports Anadolu Agency.

“We received “serious threats from the occupation authorities to immediately evacuate Al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip, as it is going to be bombarded,” the humanitarian organisation said on X.

“Since this morning, there has been raids 50 meters away from the hospital.”

Earlier, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari did not rule out the possibility of attacking Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip. “In this war, all options are on the table,” he said.

Israel claims that the medical facility acts as the main headquarters for Hamas. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)