The Hague, October 30 (RHC)-- The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into an Israeli airstrike that killed three children in the east of Khan Younes in the Southern besieged Gaza strip.

“The Israeli occupation army has been deliberately targeting and killing Palestinian children.  This is a clear war crime in violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” said PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi in a statement.

Ashrawi condemned the “deliberate” killing of Khaled Bassam Abu Saeed, 14, Abdul-Hamid Mohammed Abu Zaher, 13, and Mohammed Ibrahim al-Sutari, 13, as an “ongoing war crime.”  "As long as the international community remains silent, the decades-long injustice suffered by the Palestinian people will continue unabated,” she warned.

Ashrawi appealed to the ICC to “assume a principled and just stand and press ahead with an official speedy investigation into Israel's egregious violations and flagrant war crimes being committed against the Palestinians.”

The Israeli army claimed in a statement that “three Palestinians approached the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip, attempted to damage it and were apparently involved in placing an improvised explosive device adjacent to it.  In response, an IDF (Israel Defence Forces) aircraft fired towards them."

According to Ashrawi, since March 30, when the March of Return started towards the occupied territory, more than 205 Palestinians, including 37 children have been killed in Gaza and thousands more have been injured.

Since March, Gaza witnesses protest every Friday because of Israel’s unwillingness to accept the Palestinians’ Right to Return, a  U.N. recognized right for families and children of more than 750,000 Palestinians who left their homes, towns and cities in 1948 when Israel was founded. 

The Israeli army launched at least 87 airstrikes, Israeli news outlet Ynet reported, saying it was in response to 34 rockets fired from the enclave into southern Israel.