No part of the thin strip of Palestinian land in Gaza seems to escape the war between the Israeli army and the Hamas terrorist group.
The premises of Handicap International (HI) in Gaza City were destroyed on Wednesday during a bombing on the Palestinian territory, the NGO declared this Friday, deploring having received "no alert or warning", while the contact details of the building were reported to Israeli authorities.
The building “is completely destroyed”, regretted the NGO in a press release.
“No HI staff were present, but we do not have information on any other victims in the area.
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🔴 @HI_federation office in #Gaza City has been completely destroyed in a bombing strike on January 31, 2024. No HI staff were present.
📢 We remind the parties to the conflict that humanitarian workers and their infrastructure must be protected.
#IHL
— Handicap International - Humanity & Inclusion (@HI_federation) February 2, 2024
“No alert or warning was given (…) although the coordinates of the building were duly communicated to the notification system set up by the United Nations and Israeli forces to prevent humanitarian premises from being targeted by inadvertent,” said Handicap International.
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The NGO reminded parties to the conflict to “ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure”, as well as “the provision of rapid and unhindered humanitarian assistance”.
Call for a ceasefire
“In recent months, many civilian buildings where NGOs have their offices, schools or civilian homes have been destroyed.
This is once again demonstration that nowhere in Gaza is the population safe,” said Federico Dessi, director of Handicap International in the Middle East, quoted in the press release.
“This must stop, and for that an immediate and lasting ceasefire is the only solution.
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The NGO also calls for "an end to the use of explosive weapons in Gaza, because they have a systematic and indiscriminate impact on civilians and threaten access to essential services for hundreds of thousands of people."