Israel’s Deliberate Targeting of Children Is an Ongoing War Crime, Says PLO Official

Ramallah, MINA – PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi Monday strongly condemned Israel’s shelling and murder of three Palestinian children to the east of Khan Younes in the southern besieged Gaza Strip, WAFA reported.

Ashrawi condemned the “deliberate” killing of Khaled Bassam Abu Saeed, 14, Abdul-Hamid Mohammed Abu Zaher, 13, and Mohammed Ibrahim al-Sutari, 13, in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza’s tinderbox border as an “ongoing war crime”.

“The Israeli occupation army has been deliberately targeting and killing Palestinian children. This is a clear war crime in violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” she said.

“Israel’s continuous campaign of excessive and indiscriminate violence against the people of Gaza has persisted with impunity and has been emboldened by the US administration’s strategic alliance with Israel,” she added.

The children were killed for allegedly attempting to sabotage the border fence and being involved in placing an improvised explosive device adjacent to it.

Ashrawi noted that since March 30, more than 205 Palestinians, including at least 37 children, have been killed in Gaza, and thousands more have been injured by Israeli forces.

“As long as the international community remains silent, the decades-long injustice suffered by the Palestinian people will continue unabated,” she warned.

“We believe it is time for governments worldwide to guarantee protection for the people of Palestine and effective accountability for Israel which includes serious punitive measures and sanctions,” she went on to state.

She appealed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to “assume a principled and just stand and press ahead with an official speedy investigation into Israel’s egregious violations and flagrant war crimes being committed against the Palestinians.” (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)