Muslim civil rights group also calls on Biden administration to address testimony by Israeli soldiers that they are permitted kill civilians at will
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said a letter published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet estimating that some 186,000 may have died since Israel’s invasion of Gaza once again proves that a genocide is occurring.
CAIR is also calling on the Biden administration to address new reports that Israeli soldiers are being permitted to kill civilians and destroy homes at will, without rules of engagement.
+972 Magazine reports: “Israeli soldiers describe the near-total absence of firing regulations in the Gaza war, with troops shooting as they please, setting homes ablaze, and leaving corpses on the streets — all with their commanders’ permission.”
The magazine reported: “The testimonies paint a picture of a landscape littered with civilian corpses, which are left to rot or be eaten by stray animals; the army only hides them from view ahead of the arrival of international aid convoys, so that ‘images of people in advanced stages of decay don’t come out.’ Two of the soldiers also testified to a systematic policy of setting Palestinian homes on fire after occupying them.”
One Israeli soldier said: “There was total freedom of action…If there is [even] a feeling of threat, there is no need to explain — you just shoot…it is permissible to shoot at their center of mass [their body], not into the air…It’s permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman.”
Most reports indicate that Israel has slaughtered more than 38,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. But three researchers, writing in The Lancet, said:
“In recent conflicts, such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths. Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza. Using the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2 375 259, this would translate to 7·9% of the total population in the Gaza Strip.”
In another report, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called for global action to help Palestinians recover the bodies of more than 10,000 people who are missing under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel in Gaza. The group said: “Since most of the victims’ bodies have already decomposed, the Israeli policy of obstructing and impeding their recovery plays a significant role in the spread of fatal illnesses and epidemics in the Gaza Strip.”
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“We have all known that the real death toll in the Israeli genocide in Gaza is much higher than has been reported. This new data by respected researchers adds yet another piece of evidence proving that a genocide is occurring in Gaza and necessitating international action to end the suffering and bring justice to the Palestinian people.
“This realistic death toll is backed up by the new reports that Israeli forces are free to kill civilians and destroy homes at will, without any of the rules of engagement required by international law.
“The Biden administration – which is enabling the genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced starvation – must act to stop this growing horror.”
He noted that The Lancet figures – estimating almost eight percent of the Gaza population killed – would be equivalent to some 26 million Americans killed, or almost the entire population of Texas.
“President Biden and his administration have been supplying the weapons for Israel to commit this horrible genocide and have been obstructing any accountability for Israel,” said Awad.
Yesterday, CAIR called on the Biden administration to address new reports of Israeli rape and torture of Palestinian prisoners and the alleged summary execution of detainees.
On Saturday, CAIR condemned what it called the latest “Israeli war crimes of the day,” including a new massacre at a school in Gaza, the killing of journalists and former detainees, and the forced displacement of almost the entire population of Gaza.
Earlier this month, CAIR called on the Biden administration to take action following new allegations of Israeli torture of Palestinian detainees.
On Friday, CAIR expressed horror in response to viral footage of a young Palestinian girl in Rafah struggling to survive after an Israeli attack blew her jaw off.
CAIR also condemned South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham for racist remarks he made about Palestinians on the Fourth of July.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@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