GENEVA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Euro-Med Monitor said the Israeli occupation army’s destruction of entire Palestinian cities and neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip is a clear manifestation of the crime of genocide Israel has been committing in the Gaza Strip for the past 14 months, and a primary tool for its implementation.
The Euro-Med added, in a statement on Tuesday, that this crime has not been confined to the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians or the gradual decimation of two million people’s basic survival elements, but also has extended to the complete annihilation of Palestinian cities, obliterating their architectural and civilizational fabric.
This systematic destruction aims to erase the Palestinian national and cultural identity, impose permanent forced displacement, prevent return, dismantle communities, and eradicate their collective memory. It is a deliberate attempt to eliminate their physical and human existence while destroying their past, present, and future, it added.
The Euro-Med explained that information documented by its field team, alongside testimonies from families forcibly displaced from northern Gaza, reveals that the Israeli occupation army has pursued, since its third ground assault on the northern Gaza Strip starting 5 October 2024, a policy of comprehensive erasure and destruction.
Methods employed include demolition using robots and booby-trapped barrels, aerial bombardment with destructive ordnance, planting explosives for remote demolition, and bulldozing using Israeli military and civilian machinery.
The pattern of devastation demonstrates that it is not militarily necessary but serves the deliberate purpose of erasing the Palestinian material and cultural presence. This constitutes a grave breach of international law, the statement highlighted.
It pointed out that the Israeli occupation army targeted dozens of archaeological and urban landmarks, such as mosques, churches, archaeological sites, historical buildings in Gaza City, in addition to public and private museums, cultural centers and universities that constitute an essential part of Gaza’s civilized identity.
The Euro-Med renewed its calls for all countries to assume their international responsibilities, stop genocide and all heinous crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, and protect civilians there.
It also called for the implementation of the ICC’s arrest warrants against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israeli minister of war, Yoav Gallant, at first opportunity, and handing them over to international justice.
