Hamas demands global response following the Al-Tabaeen School massacre

The following statement from Hamas was published on Resistance News Network on Aug. 11, 2024.

In light of the brutal and systematic Zionist targeting of unarmed civilians in Gaza, the ongoing massacres for more than 10 months, and the crime committed at dawn yesterday by the Zionist terrorist army against worshippers in Al-Tabaeen School in Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, where more than a hundred displaced people were martyred, their bodies torn apart by three U.S.-made bombs, joining nearly 40,000 martyrs who have fallen due to the crimes of the Zionist Nazis, we in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) affirm the following: 

First: We hold the U.S. administration directly responsible for the brutal massacres committed in Gaza and affirm that the described war crimes and genocide being practiced by the occupation government in Gaza would not continue without the support it receives from Western capitals, primarily Washington, both politically and militarily, which constitutes direct participation in this massacre and other crimes and violations. 

Second: We call on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to hold an urgent meeting and take effective decisions to stop the ongoing aggression and genocide against our people in Gaza, to sever any political, commercial or normalization relations with the Zionist occupation and to implement the decisions of the joint Arab and Islamic summit held in Riyadh [Saudi Arabia] on November 11, by breaking the siege and delivering aid and relief to our besieged people in Gaza. 

Third: We call on the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency session and adopt a resolution under Chapter VII, obliging the occupation to stop the aggression and genocide and to halt its blatant violations of laws and treaties, which have become an effective recipe for destabilizing regional and international peace and security and to immediately force the occupation to implement the Council’s resolution issued on May 20, calling for a ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Strip. 

Fourth: We call on the international judicial system to activate its mechanisms and hold Zionist war criminals accountable for their crimes and to send an international investigation committee to confirm the full responsibility of the occupation government and army for committing the Al-Tabaeen School massacre and all massacres against unarmed civilians. 

In this context, we emphasize that the fascist occupation government ignored the International Court of Justice’s ruling to halt the military operation in Rafah and to deliver aid to all areas of Gaza and escalated the campaigns of genocide and starvation against civilians. We also stress the necessity for the International Criminal Court to play its role in bringing occupation leaders to trials to hold them accountable for their crimes against innocent civilians. 

Fifth: The fascist occupation will not succeed, through these brutal crimes, in breaking the will and resilience of our people and the determination of our brave fighters to continue resisting the occupation until it is expelled from our land. Its massacres, aimed at revenge, intimidation and terrorization as part of its attempts to subjugate our people and force them to migrate from their land and abandon the option of resistance and adherence to their rights, will only increase our people’s resistance, steadfastness and resilience. 

Sixth: We call on our Arab and Islamic peoples and the free people of the world to escalate their movements and solidarity with our Palestinian people, to act by all means to stop the ongoing massacres against children, women and the elderly and to rise up in the streets and squares and protest there as long as the aggression continues, to pressure governments to isolate this fascist entity, stop all forms of military and political support for it and support our Palestinian people in their just struggle to reclaim their land, holy sites and self-determination. 

The statement was lightly edited.