Number: /2023
Date: May 13, 2023
Press Release
The International Commission’s (Hashd) and the Assembly of Human Rights Institutions Statement
During a press conference on Israeli crimes and ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories,
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (Hashd) and the Assembly of Human Rights Institutions (Freedom): condemn Israel’s aggression and continued illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, the ongoing killings in the West Bank, the expansion of colonial settlement, the Judaization of Jerusalem, and prisoners abuse, which affirm Israel is a rogue entity that practices terrorism and racism in a horrific way that denies the values and principles of humans. It is the international community’s role to encourage Israeli war criminals to conduct crimes against civilians owing to their ineptitude, silence, double standards, and lack of accountability for crimes against Palestinians.
For the fifth day in a row, Israeli occupying forces carried out a large-scale war aggression against the Gaza Strip, deliberately targeting civilians and civilian property through their war operations, including insisting on a policy of assassination, field killing, civilian targeting, and home destruction. According to the most recent government numbers, 33 citizens were murdered, including 6 children and 3 women; 147 people were injured by different causes, with 60% of them being children and women; Apart from substantial damage to the sacred structure, 18 residences were completely destroyed, 51 homes were fully demolished, and 940 housing units were damaged, including 49 uninhabitable housing units, displacing nearly 1,000 residents. Apart from the extensive damage to the infrastructure.
While the occupying forces continued to close all border crossings, which has resulted in and will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, especially with the announcement that fuel stocks at Gaza’s only power plant are about to enter into force, the danger of the generating plant being completely shut down remains high, especially as the Karm Abu Salim crossing remains closed and fuel deliveries are prevented. The restriction of the borders has also contributed to the prohibition of patients from the Gaza Strip from traveling to hospitals in the West Bank, as well as the entrance of medications, medical supplies, and electronic devices. Apart from the significant economic and agricultural losses caused by the ongoing closure of crossings and hostility, according to the businessmen’s association, agricultural sector losses exceeded $3 million, and the interruption of crossings resulted in daily losses in the economic sectors of approximately $13 million, while losses resulting from the destruction of housing units are estimated to be around $5 million.
This demonstrates that the bank of targets for Israel’s military operation is definitely the death of Palestinian people, as well as the direct and intentional targeting of their civilian and public property, which is required to bring the population’s life to the level of human disaster.
Previous initial reports confirm that Israel’s war attacks in the Gaza Strip were revengeful in nature, aimed at reducing civilians and their property and imposing collective punishment on them. In light of statements and threats from Israeli officials, apart from growing doubts about the occupying forces’ use of internationally prohibited weapons, the Gaza Strip has been transformed into a laboratory for the occupying power’s weapons, confirming that Israeli war attacks in the Gaza Strip “weapons,” which resemble an earthquake, may indicate the deliberate use of weapons and techniques to bring about changes in the elements of the environment.
In addition to Israel’s crimes against civilians and their property in Gaza, the field assassinations were aimed at citizens in West Bank cities and villages, with a clear and planned escalation of field killings demonstrating an alarming situation of violation of the right to life, with the number of executions reaching an all-time high since the beginning of this year. (150) martyrs, including 26 children, 6 women, and hundreds of seriously wounded, in addition to ongoing arbitrary arrests and attacks by settlers on West Bank civilians in Jerusalem City, as well as the defilement of sacred places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The above-mentioned serious violations demonstrate that Israeli occupying forces committed acts of war, genocide, and crimes against humanity, intentionally harming civilians with injuries, deaths, and forced displacement, and disregarding the public and private protection of civilians, particularly children, women, civilian buildings, and citizens’ property, demonstrating the highest level of organized state terrorism and ignoring international law. Reprisals and collective punishment violated Article 33 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and Israel’s aggression against the Gaza Strip was intended to break the will of the Palestinian people, preventing them from continuing their just struggle for national rights and independence, as well as their right to self-determination.
There is simply no legal justification for Israel’s occupation power to suffocate 2 million Palestinians in Gaza inside a massive jail. and the prohibition of medical, food, and humanitarian supplies as collective punishment and a humanitarian crime, in violation of all international human rights conventions and rules, which affirm that Israel’s occupation violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Conventions, and the Rome Charter establishing the International Criminal Court and constitutes war crimes, genocide, and humanity distinction.
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (Hashd) and the Assembly of Human Rights Institutions (Freedom) express their full support for the victims’ families and bow to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for their resilience and defiance, thanking and praising all those working in the health sector, municipalities, ambulances, emergency services, and civil defense for their tremendous efforts. Despite limited resources, they have had a significant influence on relieving the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. and emphasizing the urgency of providing help to the Gaza Strip’s residents, particularly those who have lost their homes, families, and businesses as a result of Israeli attacks, and Looking with welcome at the movement of international solidarity with the Palestinian people,
Affirming the Palestinian people’s right to resist the occupation via any method available, as recognized by international law; The occupying forces and the government of the United States of America, who have full responsibility for the lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, warn of widespread violence and worsening humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip while borders remain illegally blocked.
The Palestinian resistance once claimed that it used densely populated areas in its war operations, which is not real, untruthful, and inconsistent with reality, as well as a clear violation of an international legal norm, by emphasizing that the justifications of the occupying leaders of politicians and the military are hostile and absurd in the context of the justification of the Law of the Jungle and its warlike behavior towards civilians and their property. as well as a clear violation of an international legal norm. (If you are in doubt, refrain.) which defines the laws of armed engagement and once again stipulates that they defend themselves against an occupying power’s skeptical right of defense to the lawful protection of Palestinians. They are targeting soldiers. The facts on the ground disprove and reject this, as the majority of the victims of Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip are children, women, old people, civilians, and even warriors who were usually targeted at home with their families rather than on battlefields.
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (Hashd) and the Assembly of Human Rights Institutions (Freedom) affirm the Palestinian people’s right to resist the occupying power by all available means, as recognized by international law; condemn the international community’s official silence and inability to respond to Israel’s occupation crimes and serious violations in the Palestinian territories, which place the entire system of action, law, and international justice in doubt; and caution against the worsening humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, Due to the continued closure of crossings and the imposition of a suffocating and illegal blockade that affects citizens’ lives and human rights, medical and humanitarian assistance, as well as equipment for the health sector and civil defense, have been blocked; sick and injured people have been evacuated to West Bank hospitals; and foreign journalists and international humanitarian workers have been denied entry into the Gaza Strip. In addition to continuing to obstruct the supply of fuel for the power plant’s functioning, which threatens to bring it to a halt and has a negative effect on the Gaza Strip’s general health and humanitarian services, the Israeli occupation army’s aggressive operations against the Gaza Strip and the prohibition of the introduction of fuel from the power plant have resulted in a lack of electricity.
warning against the international community’s ongoing lack of action and failing to stop Israeli acts of violence against civilians and civilian property in the Gaza Strip, The peaceful protesters throughout the West Bank’s towns and villages, as well as people in Jerusalem, The occupying forces have the green light to continue their atrocious actions in Area 48, and the unwillingness to hold the occupying officials accountable for these crimes may augur fresh conflict and escalation in the Palestinian territories. They register and demand the following:
- They confirm that the deliberate killing of civilians by the Israeli occupying forces constitutes a war crime in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute establishing the Permanent International Criminal Court and that all the damage and suffering caused to the Palestinians is caused by Israel’s occupation, It deplores any speech equal to the victim and the executioner, that is, the justification for the occupation, Condemns the continuing international and regional deficits to halt the aggression against civilians and the heinous crimes committed by the occupying Power in the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, especially during the invasion of West Bank cities, villages and camps ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination against Palestinians in areas 48 and considers this silence as a green light for the occupying forces to continue to sweep the blood of civilians to continue war crimes.
- To urge the Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to take a clear and unequivocal stance in response to Israel’s refusal to abide by and apply the Convention in the Palestinian territories, other than to take serious action to protect civilians in the Palestinian territories and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law norms.
- Demand that the International Human Rights Council and the International Fact-Finding Commission investigate Israeli crimes against civilians, particularly women and children, and field killings in the West Bank and Jerusalem, other than the destruction of civilian objects, racial discrimination, and ethnic cleansing in the Palestinian territories.
- Call on the United Nations General Assembly to take the Security Council’s privileges after failing to stop aggression and enforce relevant United Nations resolutions of Palestine (in Uniting for Peace form) and to work to stop war crimes, ethnic cleansing, settlement, and illegal blockade in the Palestinian territories, to stop targeting civilians, especially women and children, and to target civilian installations, to adopt resolutions supporting civilian protection, and to work to end the illegal blockade of Gaza.
- Demand that the Palestinian leadership carry out its legal, moral, and national duties, exit the box of silence, and stand in solidarity with its people; cessation of security coordination and withdrawal of recognition from the occupying power; internationalization of the conflict and activation of diplomacy, boycott, and accountability pathways via the International Criminal Court; and the principle of international jurisdiction, including the role of the Palestinian judiciary to ensure compliance. Working with the European Union, China, Russia, Arab and Islamic states, and others to put an end to occupation crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, as well as to prevent Palestinians from gaining any national advances.
- To urge the Palestinian Authority to respond to all the urgent humanitarian and assistance needs of the Gaza Strip and victims of the occupation’s crimes, remove collective sanctions, end the discrimination policy in the Gaza Strip, and work quickly to build a Palestinian strategy based on the restoration of national unity, and to recognize this as a national and moral duty that must occupy the priorities and responsibilities of all Palestinians. Reorganization is the process of operationalizing and unifying all political institutions, anchored by the Liberation Organization, on the basis of a national program, an opposition strategy, and the organizing of nationwide elections.
- Request that the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention fulfill their obligations under Article I of the Convention “, under which it undertakes to respect and ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and its obligations under Article 146 of the Convention to prosecute those accused of serious violations of the Convention by working to isolate and interrupt the occupation and prosecute perpetrators of such crimes by operationalizing
- To call on the European Union to suspend the Partnership Agreement with the Israeli Occupation due to its breach of Article II of the Agreement, which states that human rights must be protected, and to halt any collaboration with it as a racist institution that sponsors terrorism and is a rogue entity.
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s Office has urged that crimes committed in the Gaza Strip be included in the file of Israeli crimes investigated, that the policy of procrastination and double standards be ended, and that the Permanent Truth Commission open an investigation into occupation crimes against civilians and civilian objects, as well as growing doubts about the military’s use of internationally prohibited weapons.
- Call on the international community to work hard to open a humanitarian secure pathway to ensure the entry of fuel, goods, pharmaceutical dispatches, medical supplies, and devices required for civil defense in order to facilitate health, relief, and humanitarian work, and to put pressure on the occupying power to cease the fighting in accordance with the principles and rules established in both the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol I of 1977 and to remove the illegal blockade.
- Appeals to states and international and humanitarian organizations to work hard to support the civil defense of Palestinian equipment and the health sector in Gaza with the necessary medical dispatches and equipment, particularly given the Palestinian health sector’s limited potential, which has been violated by Israel’s illegal blockade and collective punishment measures.
- Call on the United Nations and the world’s governments to act quickly to give appropriate financial support to guarantee that UN institutions, such as the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the worldwide food program, deliver the required services to those impacted. Immediate intervention to halt the aggression, elevate Israel’s tight illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, and reopen all crossings, as well as a call to the United Nations specialized agencies and international humanitarian organizations to collaborate with government agencies, civil society, and the private sector to promote the rights of women, people with disabilities, children, workers, and all civilians affected by the aggression, and to provide all material and psychological support to ensure their enhanced access to services and to address the consequences and impact of the aggression.
Finally, the International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (Hashd) and the Assembly of Human Rights Institutions (Freedom), all Arab free people, the international solidarity movement with the Palestinian people, and all Palestinian-Arab, regional, and international organizations should move at all legal, political, diplomatic, human rights, and popular levels to ensure support for Palestinians’ struggle, protect Palestinian civilians, and stop Israel terrorism.
They reaffirm the international community’s demands to assume its legal and moral duties, both individually and collectively, as never before. and to take practical actions and measures that will lead to and ensure respect for the principles and provisions of the law, the judiciary, traditions, and international action to end the occupation, realizing the Palestinian people’s inalienable legitimate rights and the right to return in accordance with Resolution 194 after 75 years of Nakba, and the adoption of a binding international resolution ending the occupation and providing international protection to the Palestinian people. To boycott and censure the occupying power, a General Assembly resolution is necessary.
Finished.
Accept the utmost respect and appreciation
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (Hashd)
