GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Palestinian Civil Defense said the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kill citizens in the Gaza Strip and leave their bodies in the streets for stray dogs to devour, preventing their evacuation in clear violation of international law.
The Civil Defense confirmed, in a statement on Saturday, that the Israeli occupation army bans their crews and medical relief teams from approaching the bodies, evacuating them to bury them decently, claiming those areas are dangerous combat zones, and directly fire at the crews whenever they approach them.
It stressed that such Israeli measures contradict the heavenly laws as well as international and humanitarian laws, as this illegal policy has led to exposing the bodies of the martyrs to being devoured by hungry stray dogs that feed on martyrs’ bodies before the eyes of Israeli occupation soldiers.
It pointed out that “when our crews dealt with dozens of bodies of martyrs after the Israeli army withdrew from some areas, they found the bodies mere skeletons, and in other cases, they saw dogs devouring other bodies.”
The IOF also prevents civil defense crews from reaching the bodies of thousands of martyrs, decomposed under the rubble of destroyed homes, and deliberately destroy all heavy digging equipment and devices to prevent access to dead bodies and bury them appropriately.
The civil defense called on countries that ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention to take urgent action and oblige Israel, as the occupying power, to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law.
The civil defense called on the International Committee of the Red Cross and the international community to exert pressure on Israeli occupation authorities to follow the guide to Treatment of the Dead in wartime.
It stressed the need to protect the civil defense and medical relief crews’ right to move freely in conflict areas in accordance with international protocols to immediately transfer the martyrs’ bodies scattered in the streets of the Gaza Strip in order to be buried properly.
