Euro-Mediterranean Observatory: Investigation reveals mass murder crime committed by Israeli army with US-made bombs in Gaza

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory for Human Rights announced on Monday that it conducted a new field investigation that revealed the facts of a mass murder crime committed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, in which 15 civilians were martyred, using two heavy US-made bombs, without prior warning.

The human rights observatory clarified in a statement that the investigation revealed that the Israeli army committed a crime on February 17, 2024, by targeting a family rest house in the "Khirbet al-Adas" area northeast of Rafah city, using "two US-made bombs", which led to the destruction of the place over the heads of its inhabitants.

This field investigation comes as part of the efforts of human rights institutions to document the genocide war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip during the two years of genocide, and to refute Israel's claims about the existence of "military necessity" in the targets it bombed, which resulted in the martyrdom of civilians.

The statement clarified that this targeting resulted in the martyrdom of 15 civilians from the "Abu Nahal" family, including 13 children and a woman, "without any warning or prior notice, or military necessity that justifies the precise and deliberate targeting of the family that had displaced from its original residence".

The observatory emphasized in its statement that the investigation results "which were based on efforts that lasted for months and included a field inspection of the crime scene, cross-referencing the testimonies of survivors and eyewitnesses, and a technical analysis of digital materials, indicated that the targeted site was purely civilian".

It pointed out that the targeted site "was completely devoid of any military manifestations or activities of armed factions", which refutes "possible Israeli claims about military necessity".

In refuting those claims, the observatory said that Israel's goal in targeting the family was "to kill the largest possible number of safe civilians", as the rest house contained 16 people from the family and they were celebrating a "wedding" occasion.

The statement quoted the sole survivor of this crime, Osama Ibrahim Abu Nahal (16 years old), saying: "We were sitting in a happy family atmosphere on the occasion of my brother's wedding (...) and around six o'clock, without any prior warning, we saw missiles falling on us. All I remember is that I was thrown into the air and lost consciousness".

He continued: "I woke up in the hospital with my body full of wounds and burns, and platinum rods were installed in my hands and feet (...) I asked my brother (who was outside the rest house): Where are my mother and father? I want to see them, but I later learned that everyone who was with me had been martyred".

The observatory pointed to an analysis conducted by the investigation of the destruction traces, especially the two deep craters left by the bombing, that "an Israeli warplane dropped two heavy bombs, likely of the GBU-31 type (MK-84 bombs equipped with JDAM guidance kit), each weighing about 900 kilograms".

The observatory said that these bombs have "enormous destructive power designed to penetrate military fortifications", while their use against a simple unprotected residential building led to the soil and bodies absorbing the explosion force, resulting in complete destruction and tearing the victims' bodies into small pieces, according to the statement.

The observatory noted that the army had not issued, as of Monday, any "statement to clarify the circumstances of the attack on the Abu Nahal family", saying that this comes in "a recurring pattern that reflects complete disregard for civilian lives, and total disregard for its duties to comply with international humanitarian law".

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory called on the international community to immediately fulfill its obligations to prevent and stop the crime of genocide, through "practical and binding measures that go beyond verbal positions, including imposing an immediate and permanent ceasefire and stopping attacks on civilians and shelter centers and displacement areas".

It urged countries that have a basis for judicial jurisdiction to "open independent and effective criminal investigations into the Israeli crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, including the crime of genocide".

The Israeli army committed, during the two years of genocide, dozens of large massacres by bombing places sheltering Palestinian displaced persons, some of which resulted in the martyrdom of 100 Palestinians at the moment of the bombing.