Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor Archives - Page 2 of 2

Israel Attacks 16 School Shelters in One Month

CrossFireArabia
September 9, 2024

Israel has escalated its systematic policy of targeting—without warning—schools functioning as shelters for forcibly displaced civilians in the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding hundreds of them. This policy is part of the ongoing genocide that Israel has been waging against Palestinians in the Strip since 7 October 2023.

The Israeli military targeted the Halima al-Sadia School, which provides shelter to hundreds of internally displaced people in Jabalia al-Nazla, in the north of the Gaza Strip, at midnight on Saturday 7 September 2024. The school was bombed by Israeli aircraft, according to the Euro-Med Monitor field team. Four people were killed and several others were injured in the attack.

On Saturday afternoon, Israeli planes then bombed the Amr Ibn al-Aas School, north of Gaza City, which was also housing displaced people. Four Palestinians, including a child, were killed, and several others were injured.

Since the beginning of August, the Israeli occupation army has bombed 16 schools being used as shelters in the Gaza Strip, 15 of them located north of Gaza Valley. Two hundred and seventeen Palestinians have been killed in the reported attacks, while hundreds more have been injured, a large number of casualties being women and children.

According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israel has bombed 16 shelter schools in the Gaza Strip since the start of August, 15 of them in northern Gaza.

These attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 217 displaced Palestinians and the injury of hundreds.

Euro-Med… pic.twitter.com/ps0ZWZey1w
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) September 8, 2024

In the past week, the Israeli army has increased its targeting of civilians in the Gaza City and North Gaza governorates by bombing residential buildings, civilian gatherings, and commercial stalls there, in addition to shelter centres and their surrounding areas.

There is no legitimate reason to target schools above the heads of displaced individuals, and this act is a blatant violation of the principles of distinction, military necessity, proportionality, and the obligation to exercise appropriate caution. Every time it launches an attack, the Israeli army attempts to justify its actions by claiming that it is attacking military targets, but it never offers any proof to support these assertions.

By killing and forcibly displacing as many Palestinians as possible from their land, these attacks are a part of the genocide being carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

According to preliminary investigations conducted by the Euro-Med Monitor field team, the Israeli army has deliberately destroyed all of the remaining shelters in the north of the Gaza Strip, including schools and public facilities. This destruction has been committed with the goal of establishing a coercive environment, in order to compel the civilian population to leave their neighbourhoods and evacuate to the central and southern sections of the Strip.

Additional evidence of Israel’s clear intention to push Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip is the plan leaked by Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which published an article claiming that the Israeli army is currently researching options to drive out and displace the remaining Palestinians in the northern Gaza Valley under what is known as the “Generals’ Plan”.

Yedioth Ahronoth pointed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conversation with the army about launching a fourth phase of his bloody war, centred on driving out residents of the northern Gaza Strip. This suggests that the plan for forced displacement, which has been in place since the beginning of this genocide—now in its 11th consecutive month—is still in effect, in the absence of any strong international opposition to Israel’s attempt to annihilate the Palestinian people.

The United States and numerous European nations’ complicity in Israel’s horrific crimes against the Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip, coupled with the international community’s near silence and lack of action to halt the genocide there, is enabling Israel to finalise its plan to exterminate the Palestinian people in large numbers, through forced displacement and direct and indirect killing.

Israel’s bombing strategy reveals a deliberate policy to target Palestinians civilians everywhere in the Gaza Strip; spread fear among them; deny them stability or shelter, even for brief periods of time; force them to evacuate repeatedly; subject them to life-threatening conditions; and ultimately destroy them. The bombing continues throughout the entire Strip, with Israel targeting places designated as humanitarian areas, mainly shelter centres, including those set up in UNRWA-run schools.

As of the time of publication, the Israeli military has been attacking the Gaza Strip for 11 months. During this time, Israel has been carrying out military operations against civilian targets, killing large numbers of civilians in the process. These attacks have also targeting refugee centres, the majority of which were housed in UN buildings, and have killed large numbers of people there, all of which constitutes crimes against humanity, full-fledged war crimes, and genocide.

As part of their international obligations, all nations must put an end to Israel’s crimes of genocide and other serious offenses in the Gaza Strip; safeguard civilians there; ensure Israel abides by international law and the rulings of the International Court of Justice; and impose effective sanctions on Israel by halting all forms of military, financial, and political cooperation and support. This includes an immediate stop to all arms sales, exports, and transfers to Israel, including export licenses and military aid.

All nations that cooperate with Israel in committing crimes must be held accountable, especially those that provide Israel with any kind of direct support or assistance. This includes giving aid and engaging in contractual agreements with Israel relating to the military, intelligence, politics, law, finance, and the media, among other domains that might help its crimes continue.

At the international, regional, and local levels, all possible avenues for accountability must be explored with urgency. This includes serious joint work to activate the path of universal jurisdiction, in order to hold accountable perpetrators of crimes against Palestinian civilians before the national courts of countries where such jurisdiction exists.

The International Criminal Court must act quickly to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant; broaden the scope of its investigation into individual criminal responsibility for crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, to include everyone involved; issue warrants for their arrest; hold them accountable; and categorically declare Israel’s ongoing crimes to be genocide.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

News

Khalida Jarrar: Slow ‘Death’ of a Palestinian Prisoner

CrossFireArabia
August 30, 2024

To compel Israel to stop the slow and deliberate killing of Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar, who has been in Israeli solitary confinement for 17 days, the Working Group on arbitrary detention and UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Al-Salem, must take effective and immediate action. They must demand her immediate release and an end to Israel’s use of arbitrary detention, including administrative detention, against Palestinians.

In an urgent letter to the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has detailed the conditions of Jarrar’s arbitrary detention and cruel solitary confinement in an Israeli prison intended for female criminal detainees. The letter also includes a complaint received by Euro-Med Monitor from Jarrar’s husband, Ghassan Jarrar.

In the complaint that he sent to the Euro-Med Monitor team, Ghassan Jarrar said that the Israeli Prison Service has been isolating his wife in solitary confinement in Neve Terzia Prison for 17 days in harsh conditions. According to the complaint, the human rights activist, who has been in administrative detention for over eight months, was placed in isolation for unknown reasons, as there was no legal basis for her to be removed from the prison where she was being held. Additionally, Israeli authorities did not notify her when she was being moved to the new prison; it became evident to her, however, that she was placed in solitary confinement in a prison meant for female offenders, Neve Terzia.

⭕ Captive and human rights activist Khalida Jarrar to her lawyer ;

1. "I die every day. The cell is like a small closed box where no air enters. There is only a toilet in the cell with a small window above it, which was later sealed just one day after my transfer." (1/ pic.twitter.com/KO8yftIjLO
— Palestine Captives 𓂆 (@Palestinecapti1) August 28, 2024

Ghassan Jarrar clarified that his wife is being held in a 2.5 by 1.5-metre cell, with only a concrete bench to sleep on and an open toilet without a curtain. He said that the Israeli prison authorities have cut off the water to the toilet and are delaying the delivery of food to his wife, even though she needs to eat on a regular basis as she takes five different types of medication for blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol.

He emphasised that the most serious problems facing his wife are the actual lack of oxygen in the cell; that she is not even allowed to go outside for “recreation”; that the water to the toilet is cut off; that the temperatures are abnormally high; and that the purposeful delay of food are all “conditions of killing, not isolation”. “Do they want to kill Khalida this way?” Jarrar questioned. Despite her critical health condition, no one answers her calls when she urgently needs anything, with “four hours [going] by before anyone answers”.

Jarrar cited his wife’s words to her attorney, summarising her suffering as follows:

“I die every day. The cell looks like a tiny, airtight box. The cell is equipped with a toilet and a small window above it, which was closed a day after I was moved to it. They did not leave me any space to breathe. Even the so-called porthole in the cell door was closed. I spend most of my time sitting next to a tiny opening that allows me to breathe. I wait for the hours to pass while I suffocate in my cell in hopes of finding oxygen molecules to breathe and survive.”

She added: “The high temperatures make my isolation even more tragic. Put simply, I am inside a very hot oven. The heat has made it impossible for me to sleep. Not only did they put me in this situation alone, but they also purposefully turned off the water in the cell. It [initially] took them at least four hours to bring me a bottle of water. After eight days of confinement, I was allowed to leave the cell once, to go to the prison yard. Additionally, they purposely postpone the awful dinner for hours.”

[Thread] 1/
PFLP:
A letter from the imprisoned comrade and fighter Khalida Jarrar from inside the zionist prisons of oppression:

"I die every day. The cell is like a small closed box where no air enters. There is only a toilet in the cell with a small window above it, pic.twitter.com/4zPeRL1ceT
— Watan وَطنْ 🔻 𓂆 🇵🇸 🗝 (@WatanJamil) August 28, 2024

Israeli army forces arrested Khalida Jarrar on 26 December 2023 from her home in Ramallah, in the central occupied West Bank, and placed her in administrative detention. Since then, she had been detained in Damon Prison with other female inmates without being charged or given a chance to defend herself, until she was recently moved to solitary confinement.

Khalid Jarrar is an ex-prisoner who served five years in Israeli jails. She is a human rights and feminist activist and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

More than 9,000 Palestinian detainees are currently suffering from arbitrary arrests, harsh and degrading detention conditions, brutal torture, and punitive and retaliatory measures, including starvation and solitary confinement—violations which have seriously intensified since the start of Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023.

Palestinian freedom fighter Khalida Jarrar facing solitary confinement🧵 pic.twitter.com/7U6eWockxg
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 30, 2024

About 260 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been killed in Israeli prisons and detention facilities since 1967. This figure does not include the dozens of Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip who have been killed since last October. The exact numbers and identities of most of these individuals remain unknown.

One of the primary methods employed by Israel to maintain its apartheid regime against the Palestinian people is administrative detention. This is done in order to subject the Palestinian people to oppression and destruction, destroying their families and communities, and depriving them of their fundamental rights,, which include the freedom of speech and assembly, immunity from arbitrary detention, the right to a fair trial, and protection from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

The infliction of intentional harm and severe psychological suffering resulting from prolonged solitary confinement constitutes a form of torture that is absolutely prohibited by international law. Indefinite solitary confinement and prolonged solitary confinement, i.e. confinement lasting longer than 15 consecutive days, are prohibited by the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), which classify prolonged solitary confinement as torture and ill-treatment.

Israel bears complete responsibility for Khalida Jarrar’s life and well-being, and must end her solitary confinement and immediately release her. The international community must assume its legal responsibilities and act swiftly and forcefully to compel Israel to immediately cease its use of arbitrary detentions, including administrative detentions, against Palestinians. This will help put an end to Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime against the Palestinian people, guarantee the full realisation of their right to self-determination, and ensure that Israel is held accountable for its crimes against them.

EuroMed Human Rights Monitor

Features

Israel Bombs Schools to Force People Out of Gaza

CrossFireArabia
August 9, 2024

The Israeli army is increasingly targeting schools that provide shelter for the displaced population in Gaza City, killing and wounding hundreds of them in the process. It has also issued orders for the illegal forced evacuation of Gaza from the north to the south, in a systematic effort fueled by revenge to drive residents from their homes and places of displacement and rob them of any stability.

In just eight days, Israeli aircraft attacked nine schools in Gaza City that served as shelters for thousands of displaced people. They destroyed the schools above the heads of the occupants, killing 79 Palestinians and injuring 143 more—mostly women and children—in addition to several other victims who were buried beneath the rubble and could not be retrieved due to the lack of the necessary tools.

Gaza: Israel targets shelter schools in systematic forced evacuation of the displaced people of Gaza https://t.co/6vioRU4Rnq
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) August 9, 2024

The latest of these attacks occurred on Thursday, 8 August, at 3:00 p.m. when Israeli aircraft bombed the Al-Zahraa and Abdul Fattah Hamouda schools in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City, where thousands of displaced people are housed. The attack resulted in the deaths of 17 civilians and the injuries of dozens more, many of whom were women and children. Sixteen more were reportedly missing under the rubble

Last Sunday, on 4 August, Israeli aircraft bombed the Al-Nasr and Hassan Salama schools in Gaza City, killing 30 Palestinians and wounding 19 others. The day before, Israeli planes attacked four schools in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of eastern Gaza that were being used as shelter centres; 17 Palestinians were killed and 60 others were injured in the attack. Earlier this month, Israeli aircraft bombed the Dalal Al-Maghribi school in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood of eastern Gaza, leaving 15 dead and 29 injured.

Although the Israeli army repeatedly attempts to justify the bombings by claiming that they target military or political figures, without providing evidence to support these claims, the bombing and destruction of schools above the heads of displaced people inside them has no valid justification and serves no military purposes.

🚨BREAKING: Israel reportedly bombs an UNRWA School in Gaza full of displaced Palestinian children. #news #maps #middleeast #Iran #Israel #security #NorthKorea #USA #defense #IsraeliTerrorists #Geopolitics #Tensions #MiddleEast #Conflict pic.twitter.com/7DdMj2nYMJ
— World War 3 (@Worldwar_3_) August 7, 2024

Initial investigations by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor’s field team indicate that the Israeli army deliberately destroyed the remaining shelter centres to deny Palestinians the few remaining places to seek refuge after the systematic destruction of homes and shelters, including schools and public facilities, over the past ten months.

By continuing to bomb the entire Gaza Strip and concentrating on shelters, such as those housed in UNRWA schools, the Israeli bombing strategy clearly indicates a policy intended to deprive Palestinians of security and stability, if only temporarily.

In the course of their ten-month military attack on the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces continue to bomb civilian targets, kill large numbers of civilians, target refugee centres—the majority of which are housed in UN facilities—and carry out mass murders there, all of which are considered crimes against humanity and full-fledged war crimes.

Nazi-Zionist barbarism spares neither children, nor women, nor unarmed civilians, nor civil institutions (schools, hospitals, UNRWA facilities, etc.) !#Gaza #Palestine #NetanyahuWarCriminal #IsraeliCrimes https://t.co/0WnAFLtbdG
— PG (@5_Pega_6_sus_7) August 9, 2024

The last four days have seen new forced evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents in Khan Yunis, the central governorate, and northern Gaza. These events coincide with the policy of bombing shelter centres in Gaza City, suggesting that Israel is purposefully stepping up the evacuation orders to force Palestinians to leave their destroyed homes without even the option to resettle in nearby tents.

In its crime of genocide, ongoing since 7 October, Israel has adopted a systematic policy of targeting the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, in blatant disregard of the civilian protections mandated by international humanitarian law. This includes Israel’s targeting of areas designated as humanitarian zones, as well as its increased bombing of shelters and relocation centres over the heads of the displaced in an effort to impose forced relocation and destroy all essentials of life.

A series of displacement orders targeting large residential communities in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, have been issued by the Israeli army in recent days. The most recent of these orders was issued on Thursday evening, 8 August, and it included all of the eastern towns of Khan Yunis as well as the city centre’s neighbourhoods, Sheikh Nasser, Al-Satar, and Al-Mahta, which are communities with over 200,000 residents. These orders coincided with aerial and artillery bombardment and the beginning of a ground incursion into the eastern outskirts of the city.

Concurrently, the Israeli army distributed incitement leaflets against leaders of the Palestinian factions. This suggests that the purpose of these directives and military actions is not military necessity but rather acts of incitement and retaliation against the locals and displaced people, whom Israel targets to exact political pressure and retaliation

Last Wednesday the Israeli army issued new evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents in Beit Hanoun town and the Al-Manshiya and Sheikh Zayed neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, ordering them to head to the west of Gaza City, which was also bombed. The following day, the evacuation order was modified to direct residents to relocate to the central Gaza Strip, to Al-Zawayda and Deir al-Balah. These areas were heavily targeted by Israeli raids and bombings, including one that destroyed tents housing displaced people inside the Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, resulting in the deaths of three Palestinians and the injuries of eighteen more.

Civilians in the Gaza Strip are paying the price for Israeli military attacks that violate with impunity the rules of international humanitarian law, especially the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity.

Accordingly, all countries must fulfil their international obligations by enacting effective sanctions against Israel and ceasing all forms of military, political, and financial assistance. This includes immediately cutting off arms exports to Israel; otherwise, these nations must be found to be complicit in crimes that have been committed in the Gaza Strip, including genocide.

Note that @UNLazzarini fails to mention how these homes, schools, markets and places of worship are being used and what's going on under and around them, just like his own @UNRWA premises many of these are used by Hamas and PIJ. https://t.co/hagNJWIx4N
— CGthinks (@cgthinks) August 9, 2024

As genocide is one of the international crimes that the International Criminal Court is mandated to investigate, it is imperative that the Court move forward with its investigation of all crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, broaden its investigation into all individuals responsible for these crimes, and issue arrest warrants against them.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

News

10% of Gazans Killed, Injured, Under The Rubble

CrossFireArabia
July 27, 2024

About 10% of the Gaza Strip’s population has been killed, injured, or is missing due to the 293-day genocide carried out by Israel in the Strip, ongoing since 7 October 2023 according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

Euro-Med Monitor’s preliminary statistics indicate that about 50,000 Palestinians have been killed. This number includes those reportedly trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings, or whose bodies are either stuck on roads or in border areas that have been completely destroyed, and thus cannot be recovered. More than about 100,000 others, meanwhile, have been injured. The majority of these victims were civilians, mostly women and children, while about 3,000 additional Palestinians have simply disappeared after being arrested from the Gaza Strip, with their fate remaining unknown.

About 10 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population killed, injured, or missing due to the Israeli genocide#AxisOfResistance #BDS #GenocideConvention 🇵🇸🇿🇦🇾🇪🇱🇧🇮🇷 https://t.co/I5SaDqihpd
— Robert D ‘Little Gaza’ Skeels, JD, Esq 🔻 Free🇵🇸 (@rdsathene) July 26, 2024

The estimates provided by Euro-Med Monitor are based on data and statistics gathered by its field teams in neighbourhoods and camps located in the Gaza Strip, as well as from information received from relevant authorities and institutions, including several hospitals and medical teams. These indicate that at least 51,000 people have died as a result of the Israeli blockade of the entire Strip; denial of medical care; collapse of the health sector due to Israel’s targeting and blockade; insufficient ambulance services due to said targeting and blockade, as well as a severe shortage of basic medicines, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses and cancer; prevention of the ability to travel abroad for treatment; and the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics.

Accordingly, the natural death rate increased from an estimated 3.5 per 1,000 people prior to the start of the genocide to 22 per 1,000 people during the genocide.

Rescue crews tirelessly work to rescue a woman trapped under the rubble after shelled during a land invasion by israeli troops in Al-Shajaiyya, Gaza pic.twitter.com/NANYndJ6fH
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) June 27, 2024

The number of beds available in operating hospitals and field hospitals across the Gaza Strip is down to less than 1,500, which is insufficient to accommodate the needs of over two million people. This is in contrast to the 3,500 beds that were available prior to 7 October. The scarcity of medical supplies and equipment is making the bed shortage worse, as is the Israeli army’s ongoing, systematic, and widespread destruction of hospitals and health facilities. Additionally, there has been a notable rise in the number of wounded and sick, which has resulted in a weak medical response and serious health complications for these individuals, as well as avoidable deaths among the elderly.

The lack of clean water, extreme overcrowding, breakdown of sanitation infrastructure, build-up of waste, scarcity of cleaning and sterilisation supplies, and the frequent forced evacuations all contribute to the rapid spread of infectious diseases.

Please retweet this

‘OFFICIALLY REGISTERED’ Gaza DEATHS are 37K of which 16K are kids.

Each baby, child under rubble, crushed in to #Gaza Port has been disregarded 💔

Over 200K Palestinians have been killed in #Gaza since 7Oct & the world is silent pic.twitter.com/JxO8w3hSbQ
— Ria ❣️🖤 🕊️ 💚 (@SemiticRia) June 25, 2024

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, 990,000 cases of acute respiratory infections—574,000 of acute watery diarrhoea, 107,000 of jaundice syndrome, and 12,000 of bloody diarrhoea—were recorded as of 7 July 2024, with the actual number of infections likely much higher. Rashes and skin infections, particularly among children, are also on the rise. This trend correlates with a drop in routine vaccination rates and a higher chance of vaccine-preventable illnesses like the poliovirus, which was recently found to be present in the Gaza Strip’s wastewater.

Since Israel started its genocide more than 10 months ago, the people living in the Gaza Strip have endured constant bombardment; shooting; tank shelling; methodical and extensive destruction of houses and other civilian property, as well as essential infrastructure; and frequent attacks on makeshift shelters and tents for the displaced.

Children in Gaza face extremely challenging conditions.

Accumulating waste & unsanitary environments are causing skin diseases & other health issues, while relentless hostilities continue.

Children are suffering immensely in this war.

They need a ceasefire now.

—via @UNICEF pic.twitter.com/rFrMjNczkd
— United Nations (@UN) July 25, 2024

Israel is continuing to commit genocide against civilians in Palestine, with the intention of eradicating and destroying them by all possible means, including starvation, denial of medical attention and humanitarian aid, systematic evacuation, torture, and the imposition of living conditions that will eventually cause their destruction.

Israel’s fierce military assaults have caused over 70% of the Gaza Strip’s buildings to be destroyed or severely damaged, forcing over two million Palestinians (out of roughly 2.3 million) to evacuate. The majority of these people have been forced to relocate multiple times, leaving them to live in filthy, uncomfortable temporary tents that are susceptible to the elements, and rendering them especially vulnerable to infectious diseases that spread quickly in crowded areas.

In Gaza, a virus causing polio has been detected in wastewater.

🗣️ "The virus spreads, especially due to the lack of clean water and food, alongside sewage overflowing into the streets. The Israeli occupation intentionally spreads the virus in the region." pic.twitter.com/ZfMU5zBPz4
— IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation (@IHHen) July 23, 2024

The hardship faced by hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people across the Gaza Strip is extreme. This is particularly true inside United Nations shelter centres, where there is severe overcrowding—up to five or six families crammed into a single classroom—and exceptional danger due to the Israeli military’s frequent attacks on these facilities, the damage they cause, and the potential for contamination from explosive ordnance.

This is coupled with a lack of supplies for making adequate shelters, a shortage of drinkable water, and storage issues, plus deteriorating sanitation conditions which have resulted in sewage seeping into the streets in many displacement sites. Additionally, families are frequently forced to rely on extremely salted water for drinking, and deal with a lack of personal hygiene due to the absence of privacy, personal space, water, and hygiene supplies.

The intense heat and accumulation of solid waste also attract insects such as mosquitoes. Communities often burn waste piles in an effort to stop the spread of insects and diseases, but the release of toxic fumes poses additional health risks.

On Labor Day, engineers and workers from #Gaza Municipality wade through wastewater to access the control room and carry out repairs to the sewage station in Zaytoun neighborhood.

You may support us to keep going and serve our people in Gaza city (Donation Link):… pic.twitter.com/NqRdNc7n5k
— بلدية غزة – Municipality of Gaza (@munigaza) May 1, 2024

Furthermore, a great deal of food insecurity exists as a result of Israel’s persistent efforts to obstruct the entry of aid supplies. In addition to a lack of infant formulae, few tests available to identify malnutrition, and uneven distribution of nutritional supplements, women struggle to breastfeed their babies as a result of psychological trauma, stress, and malnourishment.

As a form of retaliation and collective punishment against the people of the Gaza Strip, Israel has steadily targeted civilians, civilan objects, and UN-flagged shelter centres in an effort to cause as many casualties as possible. This constitutes full-fledged war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court, as well as violations of international humanitarian law and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Ensuring the health and dignity of the populace through access to water and sanitation is a fundamental human right that has gained international recognition. However, granting this right to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will require ending Israel’s genocide, lifting the siege, and salvaging what remains in the enclave, which is not currently viable for life. Delays will either cause all sectors in the Strip to completely collapse, or incur further significant costs in terms of civilian lives and health.

The international community is responsible for ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches the Gaza Strip, including the northern part of the Strip, in a timely, safe, and efficient manner. This aid must include all of the basic food and non-food items needed to address the dire circumstances that the entire Strip’s population is experiencing.

Pressure must be applied to Israel to reopen the main pipelines that typically supply water to the Gaza Strip, particularly those that enter the north of the Strip, as well as to guarantee the safety of technicians who need to repair and restore the water lines and their various sources while also maintaining sanitation facilities and services. Pressure should also be applied to Israel to ensure that enough fuel is imported to run the Strip’s water and sanitation infrastructure, which includes stations, water desalination plants, water wells, and mobile water cycles, and to facilitate the entry of the necessary supplies for repair and rehabilitation work on such infrastructure. These services are essential to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, and protect them from the risk of health disasters.

lsraeli settlers flood Palestinian-owned lands with sewage and wastewater in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron city. pic.twitter.com/QR239uCjWi
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) August 16, 2022

An immediate and urgent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is necessary and critical, and must be accompanied by measures designed to enable the distribution of medical supplies, food, clean water, and other resources to meet people’s basic humanitarian needs. All nations must fulfil their international obligations by ensuring Israel’s compliance with the rules of international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice, enacting strong sanctions against Israel, and severing all political, financial, and military support and cooperation with it. This should include immediately halting arms transfers to Israel, including export permits and military aid.

Nations that provide Israel with weapons, military technology, and other forms of support, despite the presumed knowledge that this support is being used to commit international crimes against the Palestinians, must be held accountable for the crimes that have been committed in the Gaza Strip, including genocide.

This article is reprinted from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.