SHAMS Center strongly condemns the act of the Israeli Special Forces Unit within the Occupation’s Army, on Tuesday 30/1/2024, where they invaded Ibin Dina Hospital in Jenin and assassinated the Palestinian youth. The Israeli force camouflaged in doctors and nurses continues to execute the crime. The Israeli force used a silencer weapon to kill the three Palestinian young men (Muhammad and Basel Ghazzawi (two brothers) and Muhammad Jalamna). One of them was wounded recently and he was receiving treatment at the hospital. The Center added that the way of assessing the three youth inside the hospital, reveals the level of moral and values degeneration of the Occupation State. The Center affirmed that raiding the hospital is a cowardly act and it is a sign of shame on the forefront of the occupation. SHAMS Center added that the act of the occupation is similar to the behavior of the Mafia and groups but not an act of organized armies that respect the military honor and military badge and fight in accordance with the principles of the military law and face-to-face fight.
SHAMS Center emphasizes that this heinous crime constitutes a serious violation of international law and international human rights law. In particular, it violates Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which stipulates: “Under no circumstances shall attacks on civilian hospitals organized to provide care for the wounded, sick, disabled, and women be permitted, and the parties to the conflict shall respect and protect them at all times”. It is also a violation of Article 24 of the First Geneva Convention of 1949, which states: “In all circumstances, members of the medical personnel exclusively engaged in seeking the wounded and sick, collecting them, transporting them, or treating them, or in preventing disease, and employees exclusively engaged in the administration of medical units and establishments must be respected and protected”. The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution number (2675/ 1970), emphasized the need to neutralize hospitals from hostile acts in cases of war and armed conflict, as “the hospital area or any similar refuge should not be a target for military operations”. Targeting hospitals and healthcare facilities is considered a war crime under international law, as affirmed by Article 8 of the Rome Statute of 1998, which forms the basis of the International Criminal Court, and which states: “Deliberate attacks against buildings dedicated to educational, artistic, scientific, or charitable purposes, hospitals,
The Center warns that the ongoing occupation crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip pose a significant danger and indicate the aggressive plans of the occupation to displace the Palestinian people from their land and abolish their question through continuous crimes in the West Bank. These crimes include arbitrary arrests, systematic killings, land confiscation, settlement construction, targeting farmers and school students, destroying infrastructure, imposing movement restrictions, enforcing blockades and closures, and establishing checkpoints and military inspection points at the entrances of Palestinian cities, camps, and towns. The international community’s silence on these crimes, and the support provided by some European countries and the United States to the occupation in executing its crimes and aggression against the Palestinian people, exacerbates the situation.
SHAMS Center calls on the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the World Health Organization, Médecins Sans Frontières, Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, governmental and non-governmental institutions, to urgently act and pressure the Israeli occupation government to respect international human rights law and the Geneva Conventions, stop killings and destruction, and avoid targeting the wounded in Palestinian hospitals as they are protected persons under international humanitarian law