A Palestinian human rights activist accused the occupying Power of executing three Palestinian children in the eastern Gaza Strip last night, outside the law and in cold blood. Consider it a war crime.
Salah Abdel Ati, head of the International Commission for the Support of the Rights of the Palestinian People, said that israeli soldiers deployed along the border fence between the Gaza Strip and the occupied territories in 1948 committed the crime of executing three Palestinian children in cold blood and detaining their bodies, under the pretext of infiltrating through the border fence.
He added: "As soon as the Israeli soldiers observed the children approaching the border fence they surrounded the area, and when the children were surrounded and obeyed the instructions of the soldiers they fired at them in an execution outside the law and in cold blood, which led to their immediate death, even though the soldiers were Able to detain them."
The execution of the three children at the age of 17 was seen as a clear and serious disregard for the provisions of international humanitarian law, particularly those of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which emphasize the principles of discrimination, proportionality and humanity.
Abdel Ati said the harsh reactions of the international community and its institutions to this crime by the occupation give a green light to commit more crimes.
He warned the occupying Power of continuing its policy of continuing to target civilians and children and taking full legal responsibility for it, especially since its practices constitute a war crime described in accordance with the Rome Statute establishing the Permanent International Criminal Court.
The Palestinian jurist called on the international community and its institutions to exert political, diplomatic and legal pressure on the occupying Power to stop its targeting of Palestinian civilians, particularly children.
He called on the high parties contracting the Geneva Conventions to work hard to provide protection to Palestinians within the occupied territories, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
He stressed the need to activate the role of Palestinian diplomacy at all levels, in order to expose, isolate and hold the Israeli occupation accountable.
