(WASHINGTON, D.C., 12/13/2023) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the Biden administration to respond to reports that Israel forces shot women, children and babies “execution-style” after they sought refuge in a school in Gaza.
Video and images obtained by Al Jazeera appear to show bodies inside the Shadia Abu Ghazala School near the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza. Witnesses reported that women, children and babies were killed “execution-style by Israeli forces while sheltering inside the school.”
Video: Footage shows bodies piled up after Israeli attack on Gaza school
According to an eyewitness: “The Israeli soldiers came in and opened fire on them…They took all men, then entered classrooms and opened fire on a woman and all the children with her” including “newborn children.” The alleged witness added: “The Israeli soldiers executed those innocent families at point blank.”
This apparent Israeli execution of civilians is similar to the reported execution of a wounded, unarmed Palestinian civilian in the West Bank that CAIR condemned on Monday.
In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:
“Because the Biden administration stands almost alone on the world stage in defending and enabling the far-right Israeli government’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza, administration officials must respond to the reported execution-style massacre of women, children and babies seeking refuge in a school in Gaza.
“Our nation must stop enabling what even President Biden privately admits is the ‘indiscriminate’ targeting of innocent Palestinians.”
Hooper noted that yesterday, the Biden administration voted against a U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
He added that the Washington Post recently confirmed that premature babies were left to die in a Gaza hospital after Israeli forces ordered the building evacuated. CAIR previously called for UN and U.S. probes of Israel’s actions after horrifying video showed the babies’ decaying corpses, partially eaten by stray dogs.
Israel has killed almost 18,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children in Gaza in recent weeks. Many more have been killed by Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers in the West Bank.
[NOTE: More than 110,000 Americans have used CAIR’s action alert to contact their members of Congress and call for an end to the violence and the renewal of U.S.-led efforts to end the occupation. SEE: Urge Your Members of Congress to Address Root Cause of Mideast Violence]
Other Recent Israeli War Crimes:
Yesterday, CAIR said the far-right Israeli government’s controlled demolition of a U.N. school in Gaza is “further evidence of the ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing.”
Video posted online shows the man, reportedly with special needs, being detained by Israeli soldiers and then shot at point-blank range.
CAIR condemned an Israeli attack on another hospital in Gaza and said the Biden administration is actively participating in Israel’s “ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people.”
CAIR condemned another “war crime of the day” – the slaughter of at least 50 civilians in airstrikes on two UN-run schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
CAIR recently called on the Biden administration to address reporting that the U.S. supplied the Israeli government with white phosphorus used in attacks on civilian areas.
The Israeli government’s extremist leaders have declared that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza, justified cutting off water, electricity and other basic necessities because Palestinians are ‘human animals,’ embraced an ancient biblical verse about the mass slaughter of an entire city from animals to infants, demanded a million residents of northern Gaza leave their homes or face death, and announced that the aim of the bombing in Gaza was destruction rather than accuracy.
CAIR said a new report by Heritage for Peace detailing Israel’s ongoing destruction of Palestinian cultural sites shows its desire to entirely “eliminate Palestinian existence.”
Washington, D.C., based CAIR questioned whether Western leaders even regard Palestinians as “human” after more than 700 women, children and men were massacred by Israel within just the last 24 hours.
CAIR condemned the “Israeli war crime of the day” after more than 100 men, women and children were killed in the bombing of residential buildings hosting displaced families in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com