Human Rights Watch says Israel targeting hospitals 'unlawful', calls for war crimes investigation

Human Rights Watch has called for Israel’s “repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport” to be investigated as war crimes.

In a statement on Tuesday, the organisation rejected Israel’s claim that hospitals are legitimate military targets because they house Hamas fighters, adding that even if true Israel has failed to demonstrate that the attacks are proportionate or follow international laws of war.

“No evidence put forward would justify depriving hospitals and ambulances of their protected status under international humanitarian law,” HRW said.

“The Israeli government should immediately end unlawful attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and other civilian objects, as well as its total blockade of the Gaza Strip, which amounts to the war crime of collective punishment,” HRW added.