WASHINGTON
The United States said on Saturday that leaked video showing an Israeli drone carrying four unarmed Palestinians in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, called on Israel to investigate “credible allegations of violations of the laws of war. “
As for the video, a State Department spokesperson told Anadolu that “the content of the video is disturbing. “
“We have verified the footage, but we have asked the Israelis for more data and an investigation,” the spokesman said.
“Israel has a legal responsibility to investigate credible allegations of violations of the laws of war and a proper responsibility to prevent any violations from falling again. “
The scenes broadcast via Al Jazeera were allegedly captured from an Israeli drone in Khan Younis in February, showing the pursuit of the four Palestinian youths and their various missiles.
Two of them were killed by the first missile, and then the third and fourth were killed by two more missiles.
It is clear from the footage that the four civilians were unarmed and posed some threat.
After two young men were killed in the first shot, the third boy noticed that he was moving away from the target site, but the drone followed him and bombed him.
The Israeli military announced on Friday that it had launched an investigation into the broadcast through Al Jazeera.
Israel has launched a deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.
Since then, nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza, and only about 74,200 have been injured amid widespread destruction and shortages of basic necessities.
Israel’s war has driven 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been broken or destroyed, according to the UN.