Features Archives - CrossFireArarbia

UN Slams Israel’s ‘Unprecedented Displacement’ on The West Bank

CrossFireArabia
February 15, 2025

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday condemned the intensifying Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank, warning that nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced already amid an “alarming wave” of violence and destruction.

Since the start of the offensive on 21 January, Israeli forces have killed at least 44 Palestinians, including five children and two women, in Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas governorates, and four refugee camps in those areas, according to OHCHR.

Many of those killed were unarmed and posed no imminent threat, said the UN rights office, calling the killings “part of an expanding pattern of Israel’s unlawful use of force in the West Bank where there are no active hostilities.”

‘Unprecedented’ displacement

OHCHR also highlighted an unprecedented scale of mass displacement not seen in decades in the occupied West Bank.

It cited reports from displaced residents of a pattern where they were led out of their homes by Israeli security forces and drones under the threat of violence.

“They are then forced out of their towns with snipers positioned on rooftops around them and houses in their neighbourhoods used as posts by Israeli security forces,” the office said.

Testimonies collected by OHCHR describe Israeli forces threatening residents who were told they would never be allowed to return. One woman, who fled barefoot carrying her two young children, said she was denied permission to retrieve heart medication for her baby.

In Jenin refugee camp, bulldozed roads were photographed with new street signs reportedly now written in Hebrew.

“In this regard, we reiterate that any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited and amounts to a crime under international law,” OHCHR stated.

Legal obligations

The office stressed that displaced Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes and called for immediate, transparent investigations into the killings.

“Military commanders and other superiors may be held responsible for the crimes committed by their subordinates if they fail to take all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or punish unlawful killings,” it stated.

OHCHR also reiterated Israel’s obligations under international law, including ending its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible and evacuating all West Bank settlements immediately.

“In the meantime, as the occupying power, Israel must ensure the protection of Palestinians, the provision of basic services and needs, and the respect of Palestinians’ full range of human rights,” the office said.

WFP aid trucks cross into Gaza via the Zikim and Kerem Shalom border crossings.

Humanitarian update

Meanwhile in Gaza, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Friday it had reached more than 860,000 men, women and children with food parcels, hot meals, bread and cash assistance since the start of the fragile ceasefire.

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at a regular news briefing in New York that over 19,000 metric tonnes of WFP food have entered Gaza.

The agency has also distributed nutrition packs to some 85,000 people, including children under five, and pregnant and breastfeeding women, and provided more than 90,000 people with cash assistance in the past two weeks.

“Efforts are also underway to establish more food distribution points, especially in North Gaza, to reduce travel distances, transport costs and protection risks for families,” Mr. Dujarric said.

Fuel deliveries, schools reopening

In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) distributed 100,000 litres of fuel to hospitals in Gaza City on Friday, having delivered about 5,000 litres of fuel to Al Awda Hospital, in North Gaza governorate the day before.

In southern Gaza, education partners in Rafah are preparing for the reopening of at least a dozen schools as displaced families return to their home areas, Mr. Dujarric said.

“As you know, schools across the Strip had been used as shelters for Palestinians displaced during 15 months of hostilities. In Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, partners are providing cleaning materials to restart learning activities,” he added.

UN News

Features

After 22 Years in Israeli Jail he Walks Free; A Story of Neglect, Torture

CrossFireArabia
February 9, 2025

Muhammad Barrash spent 22 years in an Israeli prison, enduring blindness, pain, and medical neglect. On Saturday, he finally walked free.

Barrash’s story is one of unimaginable suffering. In 2002, an Israeli “Energa” shell struck him in the heart of Ramallah in the West Bank. The explosion took his left leg, damaged his right, and left him partially blind. In June 2003, Israeli forces captured him. He was sentenced to three life terms and an additional 40 years.

Prison only deepened his suffering. Within a year of his detention, Barrash lost his eyesight completely. His right eye, already injured, deteriorated due to untreated medical conditions. But he kept this secret from his mother.

“Don’t tell my mother I am blind,” he wrote in a letter from prison in 2012. “She sees me, but I cannot see her. I smile and pretend when she holds up pictures of my brothers and friends. She doesn’t know that darkness has taken over my body.”

For years, Israeli prison authorities denied him medical care. He waited endlessly for a corneal transplant. The procedure never came. His body bore the scars of war—shrapnel embedded in his flesh, his right leg deteriorating. In 2021, he discovered that Israeli prison authorities had been giving him expired cholesterol medication, worsening his condition.

Meanwhile, his mother waited. She fought to visit him. She dreamed of his freedom. And on Saturday, her prayers were answered. Barrash stepped out of prison, no longer behind bars but forever marked by the years of neglect and torment.

His release is part of the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal between the resistance and the occupation state. For many, his story symbolizes the brutal conditions faced by Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.

Despite the blindness, the wounds, and the suffering, Barrash survived. He is free. But the scars remain.

Unprecedented Torture

The harrowing experiences of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers have long been a subject of international concern. Recent reports highlight a disturbing escalation in the severity of torture and mistreatment.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), detainees released as part of the recent prisoner exchange exhibited signs of “unprecedented” torture and starvation. Freed prisoners were observed wearing stained grey prison jumpsuits, bearing physical evidence of prolonged abuse. Testimonies revealed that many endured severe beatings leading to broken ribs, systematic medical neglect, and deliberate starvation. Some suffered from untreated skin conditions like scabies, exacerbated by the harsh prison environment.

Further reports from the Arab Workers Union indicate that Palestinian workers arrested following the October 2023 Israeli genocide in Gaza faced brutal treatment. Legal advisor Wehbe Badarneh disclosed that 34 workers died under mysterious circumstances or from alleged heart attacks while in detention. Testimonies from survivors detailed horrific abuse, including beatings, stripping, and various torture methods. These accounts suggest that some workers were tortured to death, prompting calls for international legal action against Israel.

Amnesty International has also documented a sharp increase in the use of administrative detention by Israeli authorities, leading to arbitrary arrests of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. The organization reported that detainees suffered from inhuman and degrading treatment, with incidents of torture and deaths in custody going uninvestigated. This pattern of abuse underscores a systemic issue within the Israeli detention system according to the Quds News Network.

Features

Ceasefire Gaza: Israel Maintains Grip on The Ruined Strip

CrossFireArabia
February 8, 2025

Despite the declaration of a ceasefire on 19 January 2025, Israel continues to commit genocide in the Gaza Strip by denying Palestinians the basic necessities for survival and imposing conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.

Israel is not content with the mass killings and devastation it inflicted on Gaza over the past 15 months. Now, it is enforcing measures to effectively kill the population through an illegal, total siege that blocks the flow of basic supplies and humanitarian aid, prevents the repair of essential infrastructure, and denies services indispensable for survival.

Israel is fully aware of the catastrophic impact of its unlawful actions on Palestinians in Gaza, including the severe and lasting consequences for marginalized communities and people with critical medical conditions. Yet, in the absence of meaningful international pressure to end its ongoing crimes, these violations continue unabated.

Although the mass killings in Gaza have halted since the ceasefire, Israeli occupation forces continue to kill Palestinians without legal grounds, using false justifications.

Euro-Med Monitor has documented the killing of at least 110 Palestinians since the ceasefire, with an average of about six deaths per day. These victims include both new fatalities, killed directly by the IOF, and individuals who succumbed to their prior injuries after Israel denied the right to travel abroad for treatment. Additionally, 901 Palestinians have been injured since the ceasefire, averaging 47 injuries per day.

Thousands remain missing beneath the rubble, yet recovery efforts are still hampered by Israel’s deliberate delays in allowing the necessary equipment into the enclave. Recovery operations are currently being carried out with manual tools or basic equipment that is not suitable for dealing with thousands of tonnes of rubble. As of right now, 571 dead bodies have been recovered in the Strip, at a rate of 30 per day.

Since the ceasefire, only a handful of injured and ill Palestinians from Gaza have been permitted to travel abroad for treatment, leaving thousands at risk of death due to Israel’s ongoing denial of their right to receive treatment.

In addition to ensuring a severe shortage of specialised medical personnel, generators, fuel, and oxygen stations, Israel has obstructed the rehabilitation of destroyed hospitals and blocked the entry of medical supplies, medications, and equipment.

Further, in addition to blocking equipment needed for maintenance and restoration, the ongoing and illegal restrictions by Israel are preventing the entry of temporary shelters, tents, and basic supplies for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians whose homes it has destroyed. This has worsened their suffering under harsh weather conditions, as there are no adequate shelters available because Israel demolished most of the homes and shelters in the Strip.

Israel is deliberately obstructing the restoration of essential infrastructure, including water and sewage systems, endangering civilian lives and worsening environmental and health crises.

Israel also imposes strict restrictions on essential food production supplies, threatening large-scale famine in Gaza. Food stocks are depleting, and residents are unable to farm, fish, or secure food for their families. Through these measures, Israel seeks to make the Palestinian population entirely dependent on its decisions regarding humanitarian aid, which has become the remaining primary source of food for the people of Gaza.

The conditions imposed by Israel deliberately create living circumstances aimed to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza, particularly when considered in the context of the widespread poverty, destruction, hunger, malnutrition, and the health and environmental disasters resulting from Israeli military actions since October 2023.

These actions violate Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law, including its duties as an occupying power to provide for the basic needs of the population. They also violate the rulings of the International Court of Justice, which require Israel to take prompt, decisive action to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid and urgent basic services to alleviate the dire circumstances that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face.

According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which forbids imposing living conditions on a group with the intent to destroy it in whole or in part, Israel’s policy is nothing more than a consecration of the crime of genocide. Despite the ceasefire, Israel has not fundamentally changed its behaviour and policy to undo the devastating conditions it has imposed on the Palestinians in Gaza. Instead, Israel has continued to create conditions that are likely to ultimately result in the physical destruction of the Palestinian people, given the effects of its actions on all facets of their lives and the length of time they have endured these conditions.

In addition to taking effective measures to protect Palestinians from plans for forced displacement and slow killing, immediate international action is required to stop the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip and to appropriately address the immediate needs of the population. As a critical part of ensuring their survival and dignity, adequate temporary housing must be provided to the Strip’s residents.

The entry and access of humanitarian aid should be guaranteed, along with the removal of any restrictions or blockades preventing the civilian population from receiving relief, hospital services, and access to water and education. The consideration of the needs of women, children, and members of the most vulnerable groups must also be guaranteed, as well as the prompt reconstruction of Gaza’s basic infrastructure; provision of social and psychological support to address the devastating psychological effects of the conflict, particularly on children and attack survivors; and the imposition of genuine pressure to lift the blockade imposed on the Strip so that the Palestinian people can reclaim their lives and human dignity.

The international community and the United Nations must act urgently to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes against Palestinians. This includes enforcing effective sanctions, halting all military, financial, and political support, and immediately suspending all arms sales, transfers, and purchases, including export licenses and military aid. Israel must be held accountable at all levels, both domestically and internationally. Additionally, the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against the Israeli Prime Minister and former Defence Minister must be executed without delay and brought before international justice.

Features

Despite Ceasefire Gaza’s ‘Humanitarian’ Crisis Remains Acute

CrossFireArabia
February 4, 2025

Sixteen days have passed since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions was announced, yet the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is still dire. Nearly all forms of aid remain disrupted, and the urgent humanitarian needs of the Strip’s roughly 2.3 million residents have not been met.

Despite the ceasefire agreement announced on 19 January, which reduced the intensity of Israel’s daily bombing and killings, the humanitarian situation and living conditions have remained dire, with homes and infrastructure in all its forms severely destroyed.

Though the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip has increased, the Euro-Med Monitor field team’s preliminary analysis of the volume and type of aid entering the enclave reveals that some of it is goods for merchants, i.e. non-essential items like snacks, which are not a priority for the people of the Strip. This is also true of other aid being delivered in trucks to international organisations within the Strip.

While hundreds of thousands of Gazans live in a tragic reality every day, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is only getting worse. International commitments have not substantially alleviated the suffering of the populace, as urgent humanitarian concerns remain unresolved.

Since the ceasefire agreement went into effect, about 8,500 trucks have entered the Gaza Strip, but only about 35% of them have made it to the northern part of the Strip. Emergency needs are estimated to require around 1,000 trucks per day, but the number of trucks that are able to reach the enclave does not exceed half of this daily need.

Euro-Med Monitor reiterates that many of the trucks that have entered are carrying goods for merchants rather than humanitarian aid, and the majority of this aid is non-essential.

There is an urgent need for temporary shelter in the form of tents and mobile homes, which were supposed to be introduced under the ceasefire agreement, because hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned from the south to their residential areas in the northern part of the Gaza Valley. So far, however, Israel has not fulfilled its end of the deal.

The initial need was estimated to be around 120,000 tents, but only 9,500 tents—the majority of which are small and of poor quality—arrived in the Strip. This means that the tents that have arrived only make up eight percent of the total emergency need, and that hundreds of thousands of residents lack adequate temporary housing due to the widespread destruction of homes and buildings across the Strip, particularly in Rafah, the northern Gaza Strip, and large portions of Gaza City and Khan Younis.

The Strip is receiving half of the agreed-upon amount of fuel and petrol needed to run the basic services sector, which is 30 trucks per day on average due to the urgent need to support emergency services, and 14 trucks per day on average.

Sanitary wares, water pipes, solar power, and materials for home restoration are additional urgent needs that would allow families to remain in their partially destroyed homes while any of these are being installed.

About 85% of the water wells in the Strip have been destroyed, and Israel has forbidden the importation of supplies to repair and restore them. According to estimates from the Gaza Municipality and the northern Gaza Strip municipalities, 100 wells in the northern Gaza Valley need to be restored and repaired immediately; none have been fixed thus far.

It is imperative that municipalities and service sectors install solar panels, water tanks, water extensions, and submersible pumps for water wells, plus electricity batteries, in order to meet the basic needs of people living in alternative housing areas.

To date, no suitable tools or systems have been permitted to clear debris, recover victims’ bodies, clear streets, or remove deteriorating structures that endanger the lives of locals in the Gaza Strip.

While only four pieces of equipment, including small ones, were brought in to repair the Rafah border crossing and the road leading to it, the ceasefire included an agreement to provide 100 pieces of various heavy equipment to open streets and retrieve bodies.

Regarding medical devices and equipment, none of the equipment needed to resume hospital operations, such as MRI machines, has arrived in the Gaza Strip. This is especially true for Al-Shifa Hospital, whose buildings and equipment were extensively destroyed and set on fire by the Israeli occupation army. Meanwhile, the European Hospital urgently needs to replace its malfunctioning MRI machine, and Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis has yet to receive one. The same applies to radiology equipment, as the Strip lacks all X-ray and C-Arm devices. Since their generators were destroyed or burned during the genocide, hospitals now require generators as well.

The lack of these essential components represents the parties’ inability to protect and care for those impacted by Israel’s genocide over a period of more than 15 months. This exacerbates civilian suffering, as does the delayed delivery of urgent humanitarian aid that the people are demanding.

The international community and mediators in the ceasefire agreement must act immediately and urgently to meet urgent humanitarian needs; activate support and assistance mechanisms to ensure the safety and dignity of hundreds of thousands of affected individuals; and ensure strict monitoring and independent investigations to secure the implementation of humanitarian and legal obligations, with the sole goal of protecting civilians and guaranteeing their basic rights.

Taking the needs of women, children, and members of the most vulnerable groups into account, swift action must be taken to appropriately address the immediate needs of the people living in the Strip. This includes providing adequate temporary housing; ensuring the entry and access of all humanitarian aid; and removing any restrictions or blockades that impede the provision of relief to the civilian population, including hospital services and access to water and education. Additionally, social and psychological support must be provided to address the devastating psychological effects of the genocide, particularly on children and survivors of direct attacks.

The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is worsening due to the international community’s ongoing inaction and indifference to the delayed entry of basic necessities. The international community must instead stand together and take immediate action to guarantee that aid reaches those in need as soon as possible.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

Features

Israel Jails Institutionalized Torture For Palestinians

CrossFireArabia
February 3, 2025

The poor health of Palestinian detainees and prisoners released by Israel as part of the ceasefire agreements in the Gaza Strip reflects the terrible conditions they endured while in custody, including torture, mistreatment, and degrading abuses that persisted until the very last minute.

The Israeli authorities released the detainees and prisoners in four batches, the last of which was last Saturday. The majority appeared to be in a serious state of decline, with each of them losing several kilogrammes of weight due to what appears to be intentional starvation.

Following their release, many of the inmates and detainees required immediate hospital transfers for critical medical examinations. One in particular seemed incapable of recognising his future after being denied treatment while in custody.

These circumstances demonstrate how Israel has transformed its jails into institutionalised torture facilities for Palestinian detainees and prisoners, including those who were convicted and imprisoned prior to October 7, 2023.

Until the final moments before their release, most of the detainees endured psychological torture in addition to mistreatment and beatings.

The Euro-Med field team recorded that, in addition to forcing the detainees to wear prison clothes and subjecting them to beatings and violence before and during their loading onto buses, Israeli forces also made many of them shave their heads – a deliberate and degrading measure meant to degrade their morale.

https://twitter.com/EuroMedHR/status/1885774865212293613

All prisoners and detainees were released under appalling conditions by the Israeli occupation forces, who also stormed their homes and locations designated to receive and celebrate their release. They attacked family gatherings, suppressing them with tear gas and bullets and injuring some people.

According to the testimonies of the released prisoners and detainees that Euro-Med recorded and analysed, the prison administrations’ violations extended beyond subpar detention conditions and turned into a systematic policy of retaliation against all Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Detainees were subjected to severe torture, intentional starvation, and prolonged solitary confinement as part of punitive measures that ramped up brutally after the events in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to punish them for nothing more than the fact that they were Palestinians. Since October 7, 2023, the conditions inside the prisons have seen an unprecedented deterioration.

According to the testimonies documented by Euro-Med, the Israeli occupation forces also tortured and beat the freed detainees, held them in buses with their hands bound for extended periods of time before releasing them, and subjected them to taunts and profanities that were intended to diminish their human dignity right up until the very end.

The day before their scheduled release, Israeli forces seized them and forced them to shave their hair, according to former prisoner “Haitham Jaber” from the town of Haris in the Salfit district. When he refused to shave his hair, the prison administration took him by force and shaved his hair all the way. “Jaber” went on to say: “The inmates endure extremely harsh living conditions, and the most extreme forms of torture, abuse, and degrading treatment were performed against us until the very end.”

The detainees were humiliated by being made to stand in a single queue and occasionally asked to walk on all fours, he said, demonstrating how the prison guards treated them like ‘animals’. Additionally, they were denied basic rights like access to water, as each room was only given one bottle of water per day, and the restrooms were completely devoid of water, making it impossible for them to relieve themselves.

Former prisoner Wael al-Natsheh, who has been behind bars since 2000 and has been sentenced to life in prison, said: “They played with our nerves.” Without providing us with any information or an explanation, they took us back to the prison for three hours after we had left for the buses. This led to anxiety and misunderstanding. We assumed that after giving us the impression that there would be significant issues in the exchange that would be challenging to resolve, he would assign us to the prison sections. He was merely playing with our nerves, as it turned out.

“The inmates who were scheduled to be released were gathered in Ofer Prison and were previously told that their release date was last Saturday,” he said. But they were imprisoned for roughly a week. According to him, the prison administration has been waging a “fierce attack” on the inmates over the past 16 months, causing them to starve, be beaten, be abused, sleep in the cold, and have their clothing and blankets taken away.

According to one of the kids the Euro-Med met and who was set free in the northern West Bank (Euro-Med does not reveal his identity for his own safety), everyone suffered in the prisons, particularly from malnourishment and beatings. He clarified that in order to avoid being arrested again, he was made to sign a pledge not to speak.

According to the testimonies of those who were released, the Euro-Med emphasised that these practices constitute a blatant violation of human rights and the rights of prisoners and detainees guaranteed by international law because they mirror the “abuse, humiliation, starvation, and systematic torture” that they endured both during their detention and after being released.

Additionally, he cautioned that the attacks are not just physical abuse but also have terrible psychological effects on the detainees and prisoners, which worsens their suffering and eventually causes their psychological condition to deteriorate. He continued by saying that the conditions the detainees were subjected to upon their release, the descriptions they gave of their conditions of confinement, and the reference to prisons as “graves for the living” are all blatant examples of an Israeli policy that violates international humanitarian law and human rights standards in order to destroy the Palestinian people’s will and subject them to the greatest amount of suffering and humiliation possible.

To end Israel’s systematic and pervasive crimes of murder, torture, and other grave violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, all *countires* and relevant international organisations must act swiftly and forcefully. Additionally, detainees who were arbitrarily arrested must be released immediately and unconditionally. The involved local and international organisations should be given immediate permission to visit the detainees and give them legal representation. Furthermore, Israel should face pressure to end all types of arbitrary detention, including administrative detention, which is a blatant violation of fundamental human rights and a manifestation of a repressive policy meant to undermine the Palestinian people’s will and social cohesion while denying them their legal rights.

In addition to taking all required legal actions to prosecute and try the occupation leaders accountable for these crimes, all nations and interested parties must launch an immediate, independent investigation into these crimes and grave violations.

All concerned countries must also assist the International Criminal Court in its efforts to look into these crimes, submit specialised reports to the court about the crimes committed against Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, particularly after October 7, 2023, and issue arrest warrants for all of the perpetrators so that they can be prosecuted and brought before the International Criminal Court to stand trial for their crimes.

The crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army and other Israeli security forces against Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip are considered crimes against humanity and full-fledged war crimes. They also constitute acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Strip because they are carried out in a systematic and brutal manner with the intention of eradicating the Palestinian people as a group, including through rape, torture, and other forms of sexual violence.

The international community must put pressure on Israel to immediately cease the crime of enforced disappearance against Palestinian detainees and prisoners from the Gaza Strip, to make public all secret detention facilities, to reveal the identities of all Palestinians it is detaining from the Strip, their whereabouts and fates, and to take full responsibility for their safety and well-being.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor