The UN has demanded that Israel’s investigations into unlawful killings in Gaza, including its “double-tap” bombing of Nasser hospital which killed 20 people, among them five journalists, yield results and ensure accountability.
“There needs to be justice,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, the spokesperson for the UN’s human rights office, told reporters on Tuesday in Geneva. He added that the number of journalists killed in Gaza raised many questions about the targeting of media workers.
On Monday, Israel twice struck Nasser hospital, the last functioning public hospital in southern Gaza. Witnesses said the second strike came just as rescue crews and journalists arrived to evacuate the wounded 15 minutes after the first bombing, killing first responders and media workers.
The “double-tap” strike killed journalists working for Reuters, Associated Press and Al Jazeera, as well as independent journalists. It drew global condemnation. All three publications issued statements mourning the journalists and urged Israel to look into the killings.
The office of the Israeli prime minister said it “deeply regrets the tragic mishap” that happened at the hospital and that the Israeli military was conducting an investigation.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military released what it said was the initial results of its investigation.
The military claimed that soldiers were aiming to destroy a camera in the Nasser hospital area used by Hamas to keep surveillance on the Israeli army. It further claimed that six of those killed in the strike were “terrorists”.
The statement, however, failed to address basic questions, primarily why Israel conducted a double-tap strike on medics and journalists and if anyone would be held accountable for the killing of civilians.
The UN spokesperson urged Israel to ensure the outcome of its investigation led to accountability, referring to recent Israeli military investigations that were closed without resolution.
[ Gaza famine conditions likely to spread, says UN-backed hunger agencyOpens in new window ]
“The Israeli authorities have, in the past, announced investigations in such killings . . . We haven’t seen results or accountability measures yet. We have yet to see the results of these investigations and we call for accountability and justice,” said Mr Kheetan.
A report published by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) this month showed that 88 per cent of Israel’s investigations into war crime allegations in Gaza were shut down or left unresolved. Among the unresolved inquiries are investigations into the killing of at least 112 Palestinians waiting for flour in Gaza City in February, 2024, and an air strike that killed 45 Palestinians in a tent encampment in southern Gaza in May, 2024.
Researchers at AOAV said the statistics suggested that Israel was trying to create a “pattern of impunity” in the overwhelming majority of cases where severe wrongdoing by Israeli soldiers was alleged.
The Israeli military maintains that it has robust internal processes for when there is a suspicion of a violation of the law.
Israel has frequently conducted strikes on hospitals throughout the 22-month war in Gaza, with the World Health Organisation reporting in April that 33 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals had been damaged. Israel has in the past claimed that Hamas is embedded within Gaza’s medical infrastructure, without presenting credible evidence for its claims.
Israel has also regularly killed journalists in Gaza, which is now the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist. Israel has banned international media from entering Gaza, leaving Palestinian journalists as the only source of news on the territory.
Israel’s double bombing of the hospital on Monday provoked outrage and added to the pressure on Israel from rights groups and foreign ministries worldwide.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, called the strikes “intolerable”, in a statement on Monday.
“This is intolerable: civilians and journalists must be protected in all circumstances. The media must be able to carry out their mission freely and independently to cover the reality of the conflict,” said Mr Macron.
On Tuesday, 209 former EU ambassadors and senior diplomatic staff published a public letter calling for urgent action over Israel’s war in Gaza and unlawful conduct in the occupied West Bank. They called on EU member states to take unilateral action “in pursuit of protecting and enforcing international law”.
Recommended actions included suspending arms export licences to Israel, halting funding of projects with Israeli organisations complicit in illegal actions and prosecuting indicted Israeli and Palestinian war criminals if they enter their territories.
Protesters next to burning tires on the main road at Petah Tikva, Israel. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA
Despite international and domestic pressure for a ceasefire, Israel is pushing ahead with its plans to take over and occupy Gaza City, a military campaign it expects could take up to five months.
At least 75 people were killed in the last 24 hours, many of them by Israeli strikes, the Gaza health ministry reported. Thousands of residents have already fled Gaza City as Israeli bombardment has intensified.
Humanitarians have warned that continuing with the Gaza City campaign could have disastrous consequences for the wellbeing of the approximately one million residents there, who are already in the throes of famine.
Hamas has delivered its latest ceasefire proposal to mediators, but Israel has yet to respond. Israeli media reported that the Israeli government was unlikely to accept the ceasefire proposal, seeking instead a comprehensive deal that would see hostages returned and Hamas exiled from the strip.
Protesters gathered across Israel on Tuesday holding up pictures of hostages and demanding an end to the war. Demonstrators said that the continued fighting put the lives of the remaining hostages held in Gaza in danger.
More than 62,000 people have been killed in Gaza – more than half of whom are civilians according to the Gaza health ministry – during Israel’s war over the last 22 months. Israel launched the war after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. – Guardian