Euro-Mediterranean Observatory: “Israel” turns civilian facilities in Gaza into military bases

Occupied Al-Quds, (ST) – The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor condemned the Israeli occupation’s conversion of civilian facilities, including schools and cultural centers in the Gaza Strip, into military bases. This matter is considered as part of the ongoing genocidal war for the seventh month, a flagrant violation of international law and an extension of colonial plans based on domination and the dismantling of the authentic and basic components of peoples.

The Observatory said on Wednesday in a statement: The Israeli army was not satisfied with its systematic and widespread targeting of schools with bombing and massive destruction, and committed serious crimes against the people who were displaced to these schools, and directly and deliberately targeted them with air and ground military operations ,murders, and direct executions, but it also turned a number of them into military bases and concentration sites.

The Observatory documented the occupation forces’ conversion of many schools in various areas of Gaza Strip into military bases and detention centers, including the Salah Al-Din Preparatory School in Gaza City, which was converted into a detention center for hundreds of civilians last February.

The Observatory clarified that since the start of the aggression, the occupation has destroyed 80 percent of Gaza Strip’s schools, either completely or partially, in addition to six universities, one of which it blew up after weeks of using it as a military base.

It pointed out that the United Nations experts described this destruction as representing educational genocide and depriving another generation of Palestinians of their future.

The Observatory stated that more than 6,500 students and 756 teachers were martyred and thousands were injured since the occupation began its aggression against Gaza Strip, while at least 625,000 students continue to be deprived of their right to education over the course of a full academic year. It stressed the importance of protecting schools and the need for the international community to put pressure on “Israel” to stop its attacks on it.

The Observatory called for enabling specialized international investigation committees and technical committees to enter Gaza and investigate the horrific crimes committed by “Israel” and hold it accountable for its violations of the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Raghda Sawas