The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a new war crime in the Gaza Strip today, directly attacking an UNRWA shelter for internally displaced people (IDPs).
The shelter, which is operated by UNRWA, is located in the town of Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip and hosts about 300 IDPs from the north Gaza district.
Initial reports indicate that at least ten IDPs were killed; including four children and a woman, and at least 113 injured in the attack.
About 20 of the injured are in critical condition.
UNRWA implements strict security measures that ensures that only civilians enter the premises of their shelters.
They also provide the address and coordinates of the shelters to the IOF, as a safety measure.
According to the initial field investigation by Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, at approximately 2:50 pm today, Thursday 24 July 2014, the IOF fired six artillery shells at the Primary Coeducation School (A and D), which is located in the Qaa' Al Beer neighborhood in the town of Beit Hanoun.
The school, which is an official UN shelter for IDP's, raises the UN flag.
The IOF shells hit the school and, according to initial reports from Al Mezan's field worker in the district, killed at least ten civilians and injured over 113; 20 of whom critically.
The number of the victims is expected to rise in the coming hours.
Al Mezan had reported that this same shelter had been attacked three times by the IOF during the past days, as IOF opened fire and fired artillery shells in its vicinity.
A women, 38-year-old Mahdiya Nafez Jarad, was wounded from a bullet to her right hand when the IOF opened fire at the shelter on 21 July 2014.
Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns this war crime with the strongest terms.
This attack reflects IOF's flagrant disregard to the rules of international law as well as its moral bankruptcy.
There is no acceptable justification for continuous military attacks that are directed to civilians and civilian targets such as hospitals, houses, and IDP shelters which are open in coordination with the IOF, and enjoy the protection of international law.
The laws and norms of war cannot condone this type of attacks by any army in the world.
Al Mezan also condemns the continuous inaction by the international community, which is reflected in the harmful statements by influential states that overlook the serious implications of the IOF's violations on the civilian population, and the nature of the serious violations committed against them.
The same attitude was also reflected yesterday, when seventeen states did not support a resolution by the Human Rights Council that condemns such violations and calls for an independent international inquiry into them.
One state voted against this resolution.
Al Mezan has frequently warned about the consequences of the way international community has handled the situation in Gaza and stressed that the excessive leniency towards IOF's serious violations would only need to graver violations.
Al Mezan deplores the leniency in which the UN Secretary General had shown in the past IOF attacks on UN facilities; including three IDP shelters in 2009.
The interventions of the Secretary General have yet again failed to capture the grave nature of IOF attacks during his visit to the region this week.
Al Mezan calls for the formation of the international committee of inquiry, as per yesterday's HRC resolution, without delay.
The committee must have the baking of international community to investigate the facts around the IOF attacks on civilians and civilian objects; including this attack on the UNRWA shelter, and to hold those responsible for them to account in accordance with the standards provided by international law.
Al Mezan calls for immediate international interventions to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure the full and immediate respect of the rules of international law.
We also call on the global civil society to intervene by condemning these violations and pressuring their governments to ensure their swift action towards ensuring respect of international law and human rights in Palestine.
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