‘Executed and Set Ablaze’ – Euro-Med Urges Probe into Killings of over 2,000 Elderly Gazans
“These crimes, which have been committed hundreds of times, are unjustified and particularly cruel to this defenseless civilian group…”
The recent killing of an elderly couple by Israeli forces in Gaza and an elderly man in the occupied West Bank constitute grave crimes that require international investigation, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has said in a new report.
Since October 7, a total of 2,122 elderly men and women have been killed in the Gaza Strip, representing “roughly 2% of the 107,000 elderly people who live in the Strip and roughly 4% of all Palestinian deaths,” the report said.
“These crimes, which have been committed hundreds of times, are unjustified and particularly cruel to this defenseless civilian group, which Israel has been targeting ever since it launched its large-scale attack on the Gaza Strip,” Euro-Med said.
Most of the elderly were crushed to death under the debris of their homes or shelter centers after Israeli aircraft bombed them, “or during their forced evacuations in the streets or visits to markets to meet their basic needs.”
“Shockingly, however, dozens of them were killed directly through field executions and liquidation operations,” Euro-Med said.
‘Shot in the Head’
The report cited the discovery of the bodies of an elderly couple, Wajih Misbah Shaath (71) and his wife Sabah Shaath (65), following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Khan Yunis on August 30.
“My husband went home in the early hours of 30 August to see how his brother and his wife were doing after learning of the withdrawal of the Israeli army, only to discover that they had been killed by Israeli army bullets that struck them squarely in the head,” Shaath’s sister in law told Euro-Med.
She said, “It was evident that the occupation forces had set off a hand grenade at the entrance of the house before raiding it and opening fire at the couple.
“Their bodies were discovered with bloodstains all over the floor of the room they were hiding in, empty bullet casings next to their blood, and bullet fragments scattered throughout the house.”
Alzheimer’s Sufferer
The rights group said “numerous other horrific accounts of physical liquidations and field executions of elderly people over the age of 60” in Gaza have been documented.
During their second incursion into Al-Shifa Medical Complex and its surroundings, for example, Israeli forces “executed and set ablaze” a 92-year-old woman named Naifa Rizk al-Sawda.
The woman’s daughter, Maha Al-Nawati, told the Euro-Med Monitor team that after the Israeli army stormed Al-Shifa Hospital and invaded the surrounding area, they raided the residential building “where my mother and married brothers live.”
“As soon as they got inside, they separated the women from the men and told the men to undress. After searching and interrogating them, they ordered both the men and the women to evacuate towards the south,” al-Nawati related.
She added “My 92-year-old mother was at home at the time. She suffers from Alzheimer’s and cannot walk, speak, eat, or do anything on her own. I think she probably would not have known how to respond if they had asked her about her name.”
Her sister-in-law then said to the soldiers: “‘This is my mother, I will take her with me,’ my brother’s wife said to the soldiers. An Israeli officer responded, ‘No, you go, we will take care of her,’ and ordered her to leave my mother behind and evacuate right away.”
‘Burned Alive’
Al-Nawati said that about two weeks during the siege of the area, they had no information about their mother’s plight.
“We had no knowledge about her fate during that time, nor did we know if they had left her alone inside the house or taken her with them to Al-Shifa Hospital,” she explained.
After the soldiers left the area, her siblings went back to the house. They climbed the roof only to discover the bodies of “my niece and her husband …with burned bones.”
“Upon entering my niece’s flat, they discovered my mother lying on the bed in a fully burned-out room. Only a few of my mother’s bones were left, and her body was severely burned. It seems that they killed her or burned her alive inside the house,” said al-Nawati.
West Bank Killing
Last month, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli occupation forces executed Tawfiq Ahmed Younis Qandil, an 82-year-old, in the eastern neighbourhood of Jenin city, during the incursion that lasted for five days in Jenin and other areas.
According to local medical sources, nine bullets fired by Israeli army snipers struck the elderly man, killing him. Ambulances transporting the elderly man were also fired at.
Elderly Detained
Israeli forces have also arrested elderly Palestinians, both men and women over the age of 70.
“Many of those arrested have been subjected to abuse, torture, and denial of basic rights, without regard for their advanced age or health conditions. As a result, many of them have died in Israeli prisons and detention centres,” said Euro-Med.
The rights body warned that tens of thousands of elderly people in the Gaza Strip are at serious risk of dying, as 69% of them have chronic illnesses.
In addition, the majority have not received any medical attention as a result of the Israeli army’s systematic and pervasive destruction of the healthcare system, as well as Israel’s arbitrary blockade of the enclave, said Euro-Med.
“Israel continues to prevent the entry of medical supplies, including medical devices and essential medicines, as well as sufficient and nourishing food, in an effort to deprive Palestinians of the necessities of life and subject them to intolerable living conditions meant to destroy them,’ the organization emphasized.
International Law Protection
The report noted that in addition to the protection guaranteed to civilians by international humanitarian law, the elderly are entitled to additional protection as a vulnerable group of people.
“This protection should include setting up organised recovery and safety areas and sites for them as well as making the necessary arrangements to safely transport them out of besieged or encircled areas,’ said Euro-Med.
‘Stop Using Hunger as a Weapon’ – Three Elderly Men from Gaza
“Yet amid the international community’s silence and complicity, Israel has violated these rights, turning all people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including women, children, the injured, the ill, and the elderly into targets.”
The rights body said international pressure must be applied immediately to Israel to stop all of its crimes against the Palestinian people, “including the ongoing genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,226 Palestinians have been killed, and 95,413 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
