An Israeli officer forced a 70-year-old Palestinian to enter homes with explosives around his neck before executing him and his wife.
Israeli forces brutally killed two elderly Palestinians after using them as human shields during an invasion of Gaza City’s southern Al-Zaytoun neighborhood last May, investigations by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor have revealed.
The victims, a married couple, were identified as Mohammed Fahmi Abu Hussein (70) and Mazyona Hassan Fares Abu Hussein (65), said the Geneva-based organization.
It cited an investigation by the Israeli website HaMakom having found that that an Israeli officer from the Nahal Brigade tied a chain of explosives around the neck of the elderly man. He was forced to enter houses in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, inspect them and ensure they were safe for eight hours.
A cold-blooded execution after using them as human shields—Euro-Med Monitor exposes horrifying details of the Israeli army’s crime against an elderly couple in Gaza’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
MORE: https://t.co/qGaXGZcK5h pic.twitter.com/iFA8Gwe1N2
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) February 19, 2025
“According to the website, he and his wife were shot by Israeli army forces after they finished the mission,” the rights group said.
The details of Israel’s killing of the Abu Hussein couple “are identical” to those posted on the HaMakom website about an incident involving an unnamed couple, Euro-Med Monitor said.
“The two most notable pieces of evidence, are the fact that both the date of the incident posted by ‘HaMakom’—May 2024—and its location—Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City—match what was widely reported in the media,” the group emphasized.
The estimated ages of the victims that were reported in the news “also match the conclusions drawn from the investigations,” it stated.
Furthermore, the victims were a married couple, “which aligns with the recently disclosed details of the crime.”
‘Horrific Details’
Euro-Med Monitor said its investigations have “uncovered horrific details” not revealed by the Israeli website.
These details suggest that the couple was used as human shields and that their execution “was carried out by the detonation of explosives that were still attached to the wife, if not both members of the couple, rather than by gunfire.”
Israeli Soldiers in Gaza Used 80-Year-Old as Human Shield Before Killing Him and His Wife
From today’s episode of Antiwar News (full episode in replies) pic.twitter.com/KpN176RixX
— Dave DeCamp (@DecampDave) February 17, 2025
Mazyona Hassan Fares Abu Hussein’s body “was reduced to nearly nothing, with an earring serving as her only identifying feature.”
Meanwhile, Mohammed Fahmy Abu Hussein’s right leg “was completely missing” and the right side of his body “totally disfigured,” indicating that at least one member of the couple was killed by detonating explosives, said Euro-Med Monitor.
Testimony of Couple’s Son
The couple’s son, Ahmed Mohammed Fahmy Abu Hussein, 38, told the rights group that pieces of his parents’ bodies were taken from Salah al-Din Road, in the east of Gaza.
“We had to evacuate Al-Zaytoun neighborhood when the occupation forces arrived, but my parents stayed because they were too old and had trouble moving,” he said.
This story is about an elderly Palestinian who has been used as a human shield to clear houses in Gaza.
Morally deprived. https://t.co/uABvO1ZPTi pic.twitter.com/UnMzehUMxC
— Majed (@GoonerSJ) February 15, 2025
“Up until 10 May 2024, when we heard the fear in their voices during the final call, we were in continuous communication with them,” the couple’s son continued.
He stated that according to what his father told him, the occupation forces “had broken into their house and ordered them] to leave for the southern Gaza Strip.”
“I tried to call again a few minutes later, but the phone was off. Only when the forces left and we discovered the house completely burned did we learn of their fate,” explained Abu Hussein.
Following a search, he said, “we discovered pieces of my father’s body at Al-Ahli Hospital, and my mother was in fragments on Salah al-Din Street, where it seems that she was killed by setting off explosives.”
Only Teeth Identified
“My father’s right leg was amputated, and the right side of his body was completely gone. It was hard to identify him other than by certain features, like a tattoo on his hand,” Abu Hussein said.
“My mother’s body was utterly destroyed; we could only make out a few pieces of her face and (were only able to) identify her by the gold-covered teeth on her jaw,” he noted.
Two Israeli soldiers vacationing in Amsterdam fled to Israel after pro-Palestine groups identified them and sought to pursue legal action against the pair for war crimes in Gaza.https://t.co/asDPzWUImd pic.twitter.com/1JhKSHut3p
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) February 19, 2025
Abu Hussein said that the Israeli army’s “admission and subsequent announcement that they had used my father as a human shield and then brutally murdered him alongside my mother shocked us.”
“After days of losing contact, we hoped they were still alive, but we later learnt that they had been brutally murdered in a manner we could not have predicted,” he continued.
Abu Hussein also noted that his parents had “a bag full of cash and gold” with them before they were killed, but the bag was gone following the killing.
‘Breach of International Law’
“This crime violates international humanitarian law and can also be considered part of the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation army against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, in which civilians have been brutally killed for no other reason than for being Palestinian,” said Euro-Med Monitor.
In addition, said the rights body, “this crime is a grave breach of international law, which forbids the use of civilians as human shields and declares deliberate killings to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that call for prompt prosecution.”
“The Israeli army’s admission of this crime does not permit avoidance of responsibility; rather, it serves as direct evidence of the serious violations committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip,” Euro-Med Monitor noted.
It called on the international community to “move swiftly to hold the perpetrators accountable and ensure that they do not escape punishment, as well as guarantee that a larger investigation into the ongoing genocide in the Strip is conducted immediately.”
The rights body also urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to look into the aforementioned crime as part of its ongoing investigations into crimes committed by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, “plus take it into account as further proof of Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
