WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
Israel’s military prosecutor has ordered an investigation into possible war crimes over allegations that Israeli forces deliberately shot Palestinian civilians near a food distribution site in Gaza, the Haaretz newspaper reported today.
According to local hospitals and officials, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the past month near food distribution areas.
Haaretz, a newspaper considered to be Israel’s left-wing newspaper, quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers as saying that their superiors ordered them to fire on the crowd to disperse them, using deadly force even against those who posed no threat.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the allegations.
Haaretz also quoted a military spokesman as saying that the army was trying to minimize possible clashes between Israeli forces and the local population, and that, following reports of civilian casualties, the army had conducted investigations and issued new instructions to troops in the field.
Unnamed sources, also cited by Haaretz, said that the military unit responsible for investigating cases of possible violations of international law had been tasked with investigating the actions of soldiers near aid distribution points over the past month.
After nearly two years of Israel’s military offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza, there has been a severe shortage of food and basic necessities, with much of the Gaza Strip razed to the ground and most of its two million inhabitants displaced.
Thousands of people have gathered around aid points, desperately waiting for the next deliveries, but there are almost daily reports of shootings and killings at the approaches to these points. Doctors said that six people were killed on Friday while trying to reach food in southern Gaza.
Gaza health authorities have said that since the end of May, more than 500 people have died near aid centers run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) or at locations where UN food trucks were supposed to pass.
When asked about previous incidents, the Israeli military has often claimed that soldiers fired warning shots over the heads of the crowd to disperse them. It has also said it is investigating various cases, but has not yet released the results of those investigations.
Israeli soldiers, quoted by Haaretz, said that commanders ordered troops to fire on groups of Palestinians to disperse them and clear the area.
In a closed-door meeting with senior military attorneys this week, legal representatives rejected the Israeli military’s claims that these were isolated cases, Haaretz reported.
There is also great uncertainty about access to aid, as the military has at one point imposed a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on access roads to GHF centers. However, local residents often have to leave well before dawn to have any chance of getting food.
The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostages in the Gaza Strip.
In response, Israel launched a military campaign that has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to local health authorities in Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Friday that at least 72 people had been killed and more than 170 wounded in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours.
