Gaza – Together – The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory published the results of an investigation into a ‘massacre in a residential complex’ committed by the Israeli army in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip last November, using bombs with enormous destructive power.

The investigation, which lasted for several months and was based on multiple field visits to the site of the targeting, testimonies of survivors, eyewitnesses, and satellite images, revealed that several Israeli air strikes targeted a residential square known as the ‘Al Abu Eida’ square, which includes residential buildings housing hundreds of civilians and displaced people, causing the killing of about 120 people. Most of them are from the same family, with American weapons.

Euro-Med said that the incident that occurred on November 1, 2023 represents a war crime and a full-fledged crime against humanity committed by the Israeli army against civilians, as part of its large-scale military attack against the civilian p
opulation in the Gaza Strip, which represents part of the broader crime of genocide. committed against the Palestinians since October 7.

As part of its investigations over the past months, the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory’s field team visited several times the residential square known as ‘Al Abu Eida Square’ near the ‘Six Martyrs’ roundabout in the ‘Al-Faluga’ area of ??Jabalia refugee camp, to inspect and determine the extent of the massive destruction caused by the attack. He conducted interviews with eight witnesses, survivors and residents of the area who remained in the neighborhood – where the majority of its residents were forcibly displaced due to the widespread destruction that occurred in the area – and also analyzed video clips and photographs of the site of the incident at the moment of the targeting, and satellite images of the site before and after the targeting, showing the extent of the destruction that occurred in the place. The locations of the collapsed and completely destroyed targeted
buildings and severely damaged buildings were also identified.

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory estimates, based on witness interviews and other sources, the number of residents who were present in the area at the time of its targeting at more than 500 people, the majority of whom were from the ‘Abu Eida’ family. This includes the total number of residents residing in the area, in addition to displaced people who have sought refuge there.

In the details of the investigation, at approximately 12:30, Israeli army aircraft dropped about six to eight air bombs with a high destructive capacity on the ‘Al Abu Eida’ residential square without any warning, targeting adjacent residential buildings ranging in height from one to five floors. In addition to a kindergarten.

Within seconds, buildings were leveled to the ground, and other buildings were subjected to major destruction. The targeting caused massive devastation in the area and damage to surrounding buildings, in addition to large holes in the ground, of w
hich at least three were visible, reaching a depth of about 2.5 meters, while some of them ranged in diameter from about 10 meters. .

According to eyewitnesses, the targeted area included more than 20 adjacent, simple houses similar to the buildings of refugee camps, where many of the buildings consisted of roofs made of light metal sheets, in addition to a one-story kindergarten building, and asbestos roofs in which some of the displaced people took shelter. .

All eyewitnesses and survivors interviewed by the Euro-Med team reported that the bombs fell suddenly and at close time on several residential buildings in the area, in what is known as the ‘ring of fire,’ which the Israeli army has used in many areas of the Gaza Strip since the beginning of its military attack on the Strip in October 7 last. The Ring of Fire is represented by the Israeli forces targeting a specific area with several heavy bombs that are dropped successively on adjacent buildings within a few seconds or minutes, leaving huge human an
d material losses as a result of the large scale of the targeting on the one hand, and the inability of the population to evacuate the entire area being targeted on the other hand.

The Israeli army claimed that “early on November 1, 2023, and based on accurate intelligence information, Israeli army aircraft struck the Hamas command and control center in Jabalia. They eliminated Hamas members in the strike.” The Israeli army also claimed in the same statement that it “urged Gazans in this neighborhood to evacuate as part of its efforts to mitigate the harm to civilians. The Israeli army continues to call on all residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to evacuate south to a safer area.”

However, all investigations conducted by the Euro-Med team confirm that no prior warnings or warnings were received from the Israeli army before targeting this area crowded with residents and displaced people. All survivors and eyewitnesses denied, during their testimonies and testimonies obtained by the Euro-Med team, that t
hey had received any prior warnings in any way before the targeting. The examination conducted by the team on the phones of some residents of the area, with their consent, showed that there were no notifications or text messages asking them to evacuate prior to the targeting, in addition to the absence of any leaflets warning them and asking them to evacuate from the area in advance, which was also confirmed by the testimonies of survivors and eyewitnesses.

The Israeli army’s claim regarding the request to evacuate the residents of the residential square was not the only one that was proven to be incorrect. The Israeli army published footage of an air strike by its warplanes in which it claimed to have eliminated a member of the Hamas movement in targeting the Al-Faluga area on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.

However, analysis of the video footage published by the Israeli army on November 1, 2023 and comparison with satellite images showed a match with a targeted location in the Jabalia camp on October 31, 202
3, and not the ‘Al Abu Eida’ square. Also, by reviewing the names of the victims of the targeting of the ‘Al Abu Eida’ square, which were obtained by the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory, none of the names that the Israeli army claimed to have targeted appear. Which reinforces doubts about the validity of the Israeli story regarding targeting the ‘Al Abu Eida’ square.

In addition, all the people interviewed by the Euro-Mediterranean Monitor team denied seeing any armed elements or the occurrence of any military clashes in the area prior to the targeting, while all of them confirmed that the area contained families and displaced people, most of whom were related, and a large number of whom belonged to the same family.

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory also did not find any evidence of the presence of military targets or armed elements in the vicinity of the targeted residential square at the time of the Israeli attack. Whereas, through field inspection of the targeting site, and reviewing video clips and pict
ures of the area at the time of the targeting, it was not revealed that there were infrastructure or military sites in the area, and it turned out to be a civilian residential area densely populated with residents and displaced people who were sheltered in simple, close-to-the-neighbourhood homes and buildings.

As for the weapons used, there is agreement between the weapons used in the attacks that took place in Jabalia on October 31 and November 1 (Al Abu Eida Square), and similarity in sizes, patterns of destruction, and the effects they left. Many weapons experts and inspectors then concluded that the weapons used in the October 31 incident were JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) bombs, and could have been GBU 31 (Warhead Mark 84) or GBU 56 (Warhead BLU 109). Fortification piercing), weighing about 2,000 pounds (about 900 kg), is part of the Israeli army’s weapons provided by the United States of America, either exported or manufactured locally with a license from it.

In accordance with all of the above
, investigations conducted by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor concluded that the military attack carried out by the Israeli army on the ‘Al Abu Eida’ square was either directly intentional or excessively indiscriminate, each of which is considered a full-fledged war crime according to the Rome Statute. This targeting also constitutes a full-fledged crime against humanity committed by the Israeli army against a group of civilians, as it was carried out within the framework of the widespread and systematic military attack launched by the Israeli army against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

Source: Maan News Agency