GENEVA: Israel’s widespread and systematic bombardment of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is a serious war crime, an independent UN expert said on Wednesday.
A month of Israeli attacks on targets within Gaza have destroyed or damaged 45% of all housing units in the Palestinian territory, Balakrishnan Rajagopal said, warning the devastation comes at a “tremendous cost to human life.”
The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing asserted that systematic or widespread bombardment of housing, civilian objects, and infrastructure is strictly prohibited under international law.
He said that carrying out hostilities with the knowledge that they will systematically damage and destroy civilian housing and infrastructure, rendering a whole city — such as Gaza City — uninhabitable for civilians, is a war crime.
He further said that when such acts are done against a civilian population, they also amount to crimes against humanity.
Palestinian Casualties in Gaza
According to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s bombardment has killed over 10,500 people, most of them women and children.
At least 2,500 others, more than half of them minors, have been reported missing and are most likely trapped under the rubble.
