Gaza – Together – The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory said that it has documented increasing cases of killing committed by the Israeli army through direct shooting and dropping explosive bombs from small drones (quadcopters), as part of the crime of genocide that has been continuing since the seventh of last October.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory highlighted in a statement that the Israeli army uses quadcopter drones electronically, remotely, for multiple purposes, starting with surveillance and espionage, in addition to issuing displacement orders, intimidating civilians by issuing annoying sounds, and, most dangerously, using them as a tool for killing and causing harm among Palestinians.
According to the Observatory, the occupation army has escalated since the beginning of its large-scale war on the Gaza Strip, from carrying out deliberate killings and extrajudicial executions against Palestinian civilians, through sniping and shooting from drones in various areas of the Gaza Strip, and
using them to enter narrow alleys and inside homes, to… In addition, it continues to kill Palestinians on a large scale through aerial and artillery bombardment of residential areas.
Euro-Med viewed a video clip published by the Israeli army documenting the use of this type of aircraft to drop bombs on homes and people during its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
He stated that he documented the execution by the Israeli army forces of Ms. ‘Salah Muhammad Ahmad Odeh’ (52 years old) after she was targeted by direct fire from Quadcopter aircraft on May 21, even though she was raising the white flag as she was trying to flee from Jabalia camp, where she was executed. In front of her family members.
Her brother, Nidal (40 years old), told the Euro-Med crew the following: ‘It was late on May 20, and my sister, Salah, said that it would be best for us to stay at our neighbors’ house in the back street of our house in the Jabalia camp, which had been swept away by vehicles, and go out the next day in the mo
rning.’ On the morning of May 21, we agreed on the route. My sister, ‘Silah,’ chose to carry the white flag and go out in front of us, and we all followed her, and our neighbor from the ‘Abu Al-Tarabish’ family was with us. We were about 12 people. My sister came out, and as soon as we reached the street President, until the Quadcopter fired directly at her, hitting her directly in the head. We found her falling in front of us with blood filling her head. We rushed back towards the house from which we had left, and the artillery shells started towards us like crazy. I was the last of my brothers to return home. I looked. I found my sister dead, and it was difficult to retrieve her because she was in the middle of the main street, so I returned home only two or three hours later. The occupation forces brought in a small plane and photographed us while we were in the house, without her moving a finger. Then the army forces entered and fired at us. They fired towards us, but it was just sound shots. They made th
e children and women very afraid.
Kamal Hamid Al-Astal (25 years old), a resident of Al-Qarar, east of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, said, ‘A quadcopter approached me. I quickly escaped from it and approached the window and started shooting at me. When I tried to escape again, the warplanes bombed the house, and I remained under the rubble for nearly five hours.’ .
He added, “They forced us to completely remove our clothes and tied our hands. Then they interrogated us, photographed us, gave us a white flag, and then told us to go west, toward the sea. My brother, Mahdi, was speaking Hebrew. He told the soldier that we wanted to take the body of my sister, Salah, who was in the street with us.” But he refused. We left under heavy artillery shelling on the route designated for us by the occupation army until we reached the western areas of the camp, where there were citizens. We returned to the camp after the army withdrew, specifically on May 30, and we recovered the body of my sister, ‘Silah,’
and buried her in the Al-Faluga cemetery, west of the camp.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory also documented the killing of the elderly person, Fathi Hassan Yassin (70 years old), on May 10, as a result of gunfire from Quadcopter aircraft in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
His son, ‘Ibrahim,’ told the Euro-Med crew the following: ‘After a long night during which we were unable to sleep due to the continued insane bombing by warplanes and artillery shells, we made the decision to leave the house and flee to a school to which my uncle had fled. We left at ten o’clock this morning, and it was Everyone in the area evacuated, and the quadcopters targeted the displaced, in addition to the artillery shells that targeted the displaced who were present in the ‘Zaytoun Martyrs’ school, which led to casualties. The quadcopter approached us, so I fled, and my father stayed behind, carrying his mattress and blanket, searching for a safe place, so the plane targeted him in a way. He was shot directly a
nd killed instantly, and I was hit in the head.’
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory documented the killing of Ibrahim Aziz Atallah on May 7, as a result of an Israeli Quadcopter dropping a bomb on him in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
Muhammad Mazen Karam, the victim’s cousin, told the Euro-Med crew: ‘We are residents of the Yarmouk area. I was with my cousin, Ibrahim Atallah, on the street before the Dawla intersection in the Zaytoun neighborhood at the Salah al-Din Mosque, searching for copper and plastic.’ Let us sell him and support our families. The movement of people was normal in the area. When we passed a side street, a quadcopter approached us. After I noticed it, I warned him to run and hide, but he probably did not hear me calling because his hearing was weak. I went to hide at an angle and told him to hide as well, and suddenly I heard the sound of an explosion. I heard the voice of ‘Ibrahim’ calling, so I told him to hide to the right until someone came to help us. I saw him b
eing targeted by the quadcopter with a bomb I fired. That was at nine o’clock in the morning, and he was killed after I first saw him breathing.’
The young man, Kamal Hamid Al-Astal (25 years old), told the Euro-Med crew how he was injured by a quadcopter that shot him and then bombed his house in Al-Qarara, east of Khan Yunis, on March 9: ‘My brother was killed on March 8, 2024, as a result of an Israeli bombing, and I could not His body was withdrawn for burial until the next day, so I went at seven in the morning and brought his body and took it to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where it was shrouded and buried. Then I decided to return to inspect the house in the Al-Qarara area. After I inspected the house and went up to the roof of the house at 12:00 noon, a quadcopter approached me. I quickly escaped from it and approached the window and they started shooting at me. When I tried to escape again, the warplanes bombed the house and I remained under the rubble for nearly five hours. When I tried to get out and
pull out my leg, the cell bombed me with a missile and there was no one else in the area until a man and his wife came and took me out and I was taken away. Then to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and it was 5:00 in the afternoon. As for the nature of the injury, the bone in my leg had disintegrated and was no longer present in the knee, and the muscles needed to be reassembled, in addition to burns on the face and hands.’
According to previous investigations conducted by the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory, the army is suspected of using the ‘Smash dragon’ system produced by the Israeli company ‘Smart Shooter’, which can be supplied to various aircraft, the Matrice 600, and the ‘Thor’ aircraft manufactured by the company ‘Elbit Systems’, which are multiple drones. Uses: Highly mobile, designed for short-term operation, can carry lethal or non-lethal payloads, and is capable of performing a wide range of missions for special forces and military personnel.
Euro-Med has previously documented the killing of dozens of
citizens as a result of shooting from these types of marches, either through direct shooting towards individuals, or through indiscriminate shooting towards gatherings, where a machine gun is installed under the plane and controlled automatically.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory confirmed that it documented dozens of other cases of killing and wounding of Palestinian civilians in Israeli army sniper operations, shooting from quadcopter drones, or by launching missiles directed at individuals since the start of the Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip, with an increase during the ground incursions that began at the end of October. The beginning of last October, especially in recent weeks.
Testimonies collected by Euro-Med confirm that the Israeli army systematically uses quadcopter aircraft to carry out deliberate killings and unlawful executions against Palestinian civilians, especially in areas that witness Israeli incursions and raids and then Israeli mechanisms retreat from them, so that they are
targeted by this type of aircraft or snipers who are Hidden in buildings are civilians trying to return to inspect their homes.
Euro-Med pointed out that this type of aircraft is also being used to intimidate Palestinians, spread terror among them, and negatively affect their psychological health, by issuing terrifying sounds and directing soldiers’ orders, in addition to their constant presence in the air.
The Israeli army turned some drones that were produced primarily for use in photography and various industries into an intelligence air force and then a means of extrajudicial killing and execution, such as DJI drones.
Quadcopters are drones developed by Israeli military industries with different characteristics and tactical features. They are quadcopters and small in size, not exceeding one meter in diameter. They are easy to program and fly electronically remotely.
This type of drone is equipped with high-quality cameras and very accurate eavesdropping tools, and it can perform additional military ta
sks, such as shooting and carrying bombs. Many suicide drones (Loitering weapons) have also been manufactured, such as the Spike Firefly aircraft manufactured by the company (Rafael) Israeli
Euro-Med confirms that drones, although they are not in themselves considered illegal weapons, such as internationally banned weapons, their use must be in accordance with the rules of international humanitarian law applicable in the context of armed conflicts, just like any other weapon whose use is permitted. . At the top of these rules is ensuring respect for the principles of distinction and proportionality, and taking all necessary precautions before carrying out a military attack.
Euro-Med stresses that the main purpose of using these drones as weapons in other armed conflicts was to prevent or reduce civilian casualties in military attacks, due to the nature of the advanced technology that characterizes these drones, and their advantages that are not available in most other weapons, such as the ability to monitor
with cameras. Real-time surveillance, the ability to aim accurately mostly due to the nature of the weapon you are carrying, and the ability to track and move quickly with the target. However, these same features also show that Israel is deliberately using them to target Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, as most of the targeting that occurred was in open areas where it is easy to distinguish civilians from combatants. These planes were flying over the targeting areas for periods that enabled them to monitor and evaluate the field conditions, and most of the killings carried out by these planes were using live bullets with a short and direct targeting range.
At the end of last December, the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory documented, in a preliminary file submitted to special rapporteurs of the United Nations and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, dozens of unlawful killings and direct executions carried out by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, calling for an immediate investigation i
nto them to hold the perpetrators accountable and provide justice to the victims. .
Euro-Med urged the aforementioned parties and other international parties to declare a position on the overall widespread killing operations carried out by Israeli forces, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, especially the executions and physical liquidations in the Gaza Strip.
Euro-Med also called for announcing the formation of an independent international investigation committee specializing in the ongoing military attack on the Gaza Strip, and enabling the independent international investigation committee concerned with the occupied Palestinian territory that was formed in 2021 to carry out its work, including ensuring its access to the Gaza Strip and opening the necessary investigations into all crimes. And the violations committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including the deliberate killing and physical liquidation of Palestinian civilians.
Euro-Med also called on the Spe
cial Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to conduct a country visit to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible in order to investigate the unlawful killings that fall within his substantive mandate.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory stressed that extrajudicial and judicial executions, whether by direct liquidation or sniping and shooting carried out by the Israeli army against Palestinian civilians, violate their right to life and prohibit depriving them of this right arbitrarily, in accordance with international human rights law, and are also considered grave violations. According to the Geneva Conventions, war crimes and crimes against humanity according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as crimes in their own right, constitute one of the pillars of the crime of genocide carried out by Israel against the residents of the Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October.
Source: Maan News Agency