GENEVA, Sunday, May 05, 2019 (WAFA) – The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor condemned in the strongest terms the Israeli aerial and artillery shelling of the Gaza Strip, which started on Saturday morning.

 “The Israeli leadership has once again demonstrated its policy of using excessive force against 2 million civilians who have been besieged for more than 13 years,” said Sarah Pritchett, the spokeswoman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

She continued, “The Israeli authorities have not only restricted their lives through the blockade, but by repeatedly targeting their lives and property by shelling and direct killing, in a clear disregard to all international treaties guaranteeing the protection of civilians in times of armed conflict.”

Pritchett added that the continuation of “the Israeli army behavior towards the Gaza Strip of killing and targeting civilian objects and the continuation of the collective punishment policy through the blockade clearly represent war crimes under the Rome Statute and require a serious action to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

She stressed the necessity of urgent action by the United Nations and the actors in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict “to contain the escalation in the Gaza Strip before the situation deteriorates to a more serious level. We also warn that the catastrophic living conditions in the Strip is not likely to bear any further deterioration.”

M.N