ANKARA
International law experts have attacked as illegal the Israeli government's relaunch of its policy of collective punishment against the Palestinians following the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers.
The Israeli military said it had bombed 34 sites in Gaza since Sunday, following the discovery north of Hebron of the bodies of three Israeli teens abducted nearly three weeks earlier. At least four Palestinians were seriously injured in the attacks.
Turkish International Law expert Selman Ogut told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday: "There is no clear suspect in the case, and yet Israel does not hesitate to punish Palestinians."
Calling the attacks a "crime against humanity," Ogut said Israeli officials should face The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, established in 1998.
The Israeli military also carried out hundreds of night raids, damaging Palestinian homes.
- 'No right to attack'
At least six Palestinians were reportedly killed as part of the “Brother's Keeper” operations and two elderly Palestinians reportedly died from heart attacks.
Israel has blamed Hamas for the Israeli teens’ deaths, though it has not provided evidence to support the claim.
It has also arrested 419 Palestinians since the three Jewish settlers went missing in the West Bank in mid-June, according to the Israeli army.
Professor Serhat Erkmen, an International Relations lecturer at Turkey's Ahi Evran University in Kirsehir, said: "Although the anger of the Israeli government is understandable, Israel has no right to attack innocent Palestinian people without proof Hamas was responsible for the killing of the three Israeli youths."
Erkmen added: "Since the formation of the national coalition in Palestine between Hamas and Fatah last month, Israel has been looking for an excuse to bring back violence."
- 'Blatant violations'
Israel's military and armed groups in Gaza have increasingly traded fire in the past week.
Dr. Mehmet Sahin, from the International Relations department at Gazi University in Ankara, told AA that Israel was playing a game by arguing that radicalism was increasing in the Middle East and putting Hamas into that category.
Dr. Sahin also stressed: "Israel wants to end the national coalition government between Hamas and Fatah," adding there was currently no country in the Muslim work to support Palestine, especially with Turkey going through its elections processes.
Human Rights organization Amnesty International also declared on Tuesday: "The Israeli authorities have not presented any evidence to back their assertion that Hamas or the two named suspects were responsible for the teens’ abductions and murders," and called Israel's actions "blatant violations of international humanitarian and human rights law".
Philip Luther, from Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International said, "But justice will not be served by Israel seeking revenge by imposing collective punishment, or committing other violations of Palestinians’ rights. Rather, the Israeli authorities must conduct a full, thorough and impartial investigation that leads to the prosecution of those suspected of being responsible in fair trials.”
In the West Bank, 16-year-old Yousouf Ibrahim was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers as they raided Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday night.
- Palestinians 'terrorized'
The Palestinian State on Tuesday sent a letter to the UN reporting an “ongoing escalated Israeli aggression” against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestinian officials informed the UN that many Palestinians had either been killed or injured during Israeli bombardment on Gaza in the past two weeks.
The UN human rights office called on all Israelis and Palestinians to exercise “maximum restraint,” Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said at a news briefing in Geneva: “We urge all parties to refrain from punishing individuals for offenses they have not personally committed or by imposing collective penalties."
Ahmed Hamdi Topal, an International Law expert at Istanbul's Metropolitan University, said: "Israel should have identified the killers of three boys, but instead they have terrorized the Palestinian people since the abduction of the Israeli kids. Israel will keep losing its legitimacy with their reaction."
