Aug. 11 (UPI) — The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a nonprofit group headquartered in Switzerland, has found no evidence of a Hamas military presence at a school where Palestinians were massacred by Israeli fighters.
“Preliminary reports indicate that the Israeli army detonated three U.S.-made bombs in the attack, which had a tremendous capacity to burn, melt, and destroy bodies,” the Euro-Med Monitor said in a report.
Israel has claimed without evidence that the Tab’een School in Gaza City was used as a command center by the Palestinian resistance militia to justify its attack, which killed more than 100 sheltering civilians. It is just the latest attack on a school by the Israelis.
The Euro-Med Monitor team surveyed the school — which was housing more than 2,500 displaced people in Gaza City — and recorded the statements of survivors to determine that “there were no military gatherings or centers at the school, and it was never used for military objectives.”
“Survivors testified that the school was providing shelter to hundreds of children whose families felt safe there,” the rights group said.
It added that the narrow layout of the school and the lack of launch pads would make it a poor choice for a military installation.
The nonprofit noted that Israel specifically targeted a prayer hall, in violation of international humanitarian law. Young girls, including toddlers, were among the victims.
“We were sleeping. We woke up to the sound of an explosion and a fire. We left our classrooms to find a fire burning near the prayer hall. The Tab’een School’s women’s prayer hall is situated directly above the men’s prayer hall,” said Susan Mohammed Al-Barawi, a refugee who was sheltering at the school.
“Those who made it through were either severely burned or had their limbs amputated. I saw injured people with their intestines coming out.”
Western nations including Germany and Britain have spread unfounded claims that Hamas was using the civilians in the school as “human shields.” Israel has not been able to provide evidence of its human shield claims.
Source Agencies
