[Geneva] Dec. 7, 2023 – The Israeli army detained and severely abused dozens of Palestinian civilians in the northern Gaza Strip, said Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, surrounding two shelter centers in the town of Beit Lahia for days before beating the individuals and stripping them of their clothes.
Euro-Med Monitor received reports that Israeli forces launched random and arbitrary arrest campaigns against displaced people, including doctors, academics, journalists, and elderly men, in the Khalifa Bin Zayed and New Aleppo schools, both of which are affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The sister of journalist Diaa Al-Kahlot told Euro-Med Monitor that members of the Israeli military forced Al-Kahlot to leave his seven-year-old disabled child, Nada, on her own.
He was then taken into custody at gunpoint and, like all of the other detainees, had his clothes removed after being beaten severely.
Muhammad Al-Kahlot, who is of no relation to Diaa Al-Kahlot, said that the Israeli forces deliberately set fire to several homes in the Beit Lahia area and launched random arrest campaigns against the remaining residents.
Euro-Med Monitor has documented incidents of sniping and direct killing carried out by the Israeli army against displaced people in the vicinity of the two aforementioned schools.
The Geneva-based human rights organization stated that members of Israel’s army targeted everyone who tried to leave, even though they were raising white flags.
A young man called Mohammed Al-Rai told the Euro-Med Monitor team that he saw at least seven other young men shot and killed by the Israeli forces in separate incidents, due to their refusal to undress and comply with the humiliating orders of the army.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called for the opening of an urgent investigation into the Israeli army’s violations against civilians and for the United Nations to assume its responsibilities for acting to protect displaced Palestinian people and ensure their safety.
