New Delhi: The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory on Thursday (December 21) released a statement saying that it has received alarming reports suggesting that the Israeli Defense Forces killed at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in front of their families in the Al Remal neighborhood, Gaza City.The OHCHR has urged the Israeli authorities to promptly initiate an independent, thorough, and effective investigation into these claims. If substantiated, those responsible must be held accountable, and measures must be implemented to prevent the recurrence of such serious violations.These allegations raise alarm about the possible commission of a war crime, it said.Disturbing information on summary killings of at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in front of their family members in Al Remal neighbourhood.#Gaza #opt #IHL #humanrightshttps://t.co/Gf0GdyDPAZ— UN Human Rights OPT (@OHCHR_Palestine) December 20, 2023Survivors of the incident told Al Jazeera that the men were in their 20s and 30s.“They saw us, men and their wives and children. My brother-in-law tried to speak and explain all in the house are civilians, but they shot him dead,” one survivor told Al Jazeera of the attack on families who were sheltering in al-Adwa building in Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood.The soldiers “forced their way into every home, killed the men and detained the women and children. We do not know their whereabouts. They did the same on every floor. All women were rounded up in one room. By the time they reached us on the sixth floor, they started shooting all men,” a woman told Al Jazeera, adding that her father-in-law and son were shot and killed instantly.A wounded woman told the news outlet: “I was hit with a bullet in my hand, my daughter in her head, my younger daughter was killed and my son is blind. My husband was executed in cold blood. All my other daughters suffered severe injuries, broken bones and flesh torn open. We were all hit by bullets or shrapnel.”While welcoming the UN’s call for a probe into ‘unlawful killings’, an analyst, however, told Al Jazeera that none of the entities that could investigate alleged Israeli crimes against Palestinians is currently allowed into the Gaza Strip.The complete statement from OHCHR is provided below.§OHCHR OPT has received disturbing information alleging that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) summarily killed at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in front of their family members in Al Remal neighbourhood, Gaza City, which raises alarm about the possible commission of a war crime. This comes in the wake of earlier allegations concerning the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians at the hands of Israeli forces.The Israeli authorities must immediately institute an independent, thorough and effective investigation into these allegations, and if found to be substantiated, those responsible must be brought to justice and measures implemented to prevent any such serious violations from recurring.On 19 December 2023, between 2000 and 2300 hours, IDF reportedly surrounded and raided Al Awda building, also known as the “Annan building”, in Al Remal neighborhood, Gaza City, where three related families were sheltering in addition to Annan family. According to witness accounts circulated by media sources and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, while in control of the building and the civilians sheltering there, the IDF allegedly separated the men from the women and children, and then shot and killed at least 11 of the men, mostly aged in their late 20’s and early 30’s, in front of their family members. The IDF then allegedly ordered the women and children into a room, and either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room, reportedly seriously injuring some of them, including an infant and a child. OHCHR has confirmed the killings at Al Awdabuilding, although the details and circumstances of the killings are still under verification. IDF has not released any information on the incident.Unlawful Killings in Gaza City by The Wire on Scribd