In ongoing efforts to hold Israel accountable for gross violations of international law, Palestinian legal rights group Badil has published key findings on alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war that the group submitted to the International Criminal Court earlier this month.
The report documents in detail the accounts of Palestinian victims of Israel’s large-scale military offensive on the besieged enclave and charges high-level Israeli officials with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In the report, No Safe Place, Badil focused in particular on Israel’s mass forced displacement of some half-a-million Palestinians at the height of hostilities, around 28 percent of Gaza’s population.
Badil documents extensively Israel’s failure to establish protected humanitarian areas within the Gaza Strip where those displaced by Israel’s massive military onslaught could seek refuge.
"Given the limited physical dimensions of the Gaza Strip and sheer scale of its square footage targeted by Israeli fire, there existed no safe place to which to flee," Badil said.
"More than this, Israel actively targeted Palestinians during and after the process of flight, and the very buildings designated by humanitarian organizations as shelters for the displaced -- home to some 300,000 displaced Palestinians at the peak of hostilities -- were subject to Israeli attack.
Israel’s 51-day assault killed at least 2,250 Palestinians, including 551 children and 299, according to Badil. Over 11,000 were physically injured, and the civilian population was left marred by acute mental trauma following the tens of thousands of tank and artillery shells that bombarded the tiny coastal enclave.
Over half of the hospitals in the besieged enclave were damaged -- six of which were forced to close down entirely -- and 26 schools were completely destroyed, Badil reported.
Badil -- joining other international right bodies -- called for the desperate need for intervention by the ICC on the grounds that Israel’s internal investigative processes are structurally inept at delivering genuine accountability or justice.
Palestinian leadership initially moved to the ICC last year amid ongoing violations carried out by Israel across the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian committee in charge of following up with the ICC met with court representatives in Jordan earlier this month to arrange a visit to the Gaza Strip. The ICC began conducting a preliminary probe in January last year examining available information to decide whether there was a "reasonable basis" to proceed with a full investigation.

Source: QNA