Number: /2023
Date: 7 Oct 2023
Original language: Arabic
Press Release
The International Commission (Hashd): The international community and the free world have a duty to immediately compel the Israeli military occupation forces to respect the laws and customs of war.
The Israeli military occupation forces continue to launch a wide-scale military aggression on the Gaza Strip since the early hours of Saturday, October 7, 2023. They deliberately target civilian facilities, hospitals, ambulances, and media crews.
According to Palestinian medical sources, this has resulted in the death of 161 civilians and the injury of 931 others with various injuries, along with extensive damage to numerous civilian structures in different governorates of the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian acceptance cannot continue for the double standards practiced by the international community, which has reached a level that challenges the Israeli narrative and ignores the suffering of the Palestinian people throughout years of Israeli occupation.
This occupation has left hundreds of thousands of victims. The Palestinian people are living under a state of military occupation and have the right to resist the occupation through all means.
The military operation launched by the Palestinian resistance this morning is part of the Palestinian people’s exercise of their right to resist the occupation and achieve their political and economic independence. It cannot be viewed as a justification for the occupation to continue killing innocent Palestinians.
The International Commission “Hashd” emphasizes that the international community and its various organizations should be ashamed of their complicit silence, which sacrifices international law.
The current Israeli aggressions constitute violations of international law, and the Israeli occupation authorities bear the consequences.
Hashd warns that the current military attacks may be a prelude to a broader aggression for which Palestinian civilians will pay the price.
Hashd also emphasizes that the continued targeting of Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians in general, and the residents of the Gaza Strip in particular, constitutes a well-defined and complete war crime according to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The International Commission “Hashd” records and calls for the following:
- The International Commission “Hashd” calls on the international community to intervene immediately and urgently to compel the Israeli occupation to stop its ongoing military actions in the Gaza Strip. It is essential to fully adhere to the principles and rules established in international law and custom regulating the state of war.
- The International Commission “Hashd” urges the high contracting parties to the Geneva Convention to fulfill their moral and legal duties by taking urgent action to stop the Israeli aggression and provide international protection for civilian populations, especially children and women.
- The International Commission “Hashd” calls on the Palestinian leadership and the national front to build a strategy based on internationalizing the conflict and maximizing popular, diplomatic, legal, and media engagement with the occupation. It also calls on the world to impose sanctions on Israel.
End
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR)
