Date: October 15, 2023
Time: 13:00 local time
Original Language: Arabic
Press Release
The International Commission “Hashd” accuses the Israeli occupation of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza with the intention of killing children and women and displacing the population. The people in this region are living in a dire humanitarian crisis, where there is a lack of clean water, electricity, and hospitals are overwhelmed and on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Israeli military forces have continued their war operations in Gaza for the ninth consecutive day. As of 11:30 AM today, October 15, 2023, according to the latest statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli military attacks have resulted in the death of 2,329 civilians, including 800 children, 500 women, 12 United Nations employees, 14 paramedics, and medical staff, and 8 journalists. Additionally, 9,042 civilians have been injured, with more than 60% of them being children and women. The casualty figures have now exceeded those of the 2014 Gaza conflict, which lasted for 51 days.
Thousands of civilian structures, including high-rise buildings, residential homes, schools, mosques, universities, government and private offices, commercial establishments, and civil and economic infrastructure, have been destroyed. This has caused significant material damage to the urban infrastructure.
Throughout the ongoing aggression, Israeli forces have intensified their direct and heavy bombardment of residential homes in densely populated areas, leading to the obliteration of 47 complete families and the erasure of 500 of their members from the civilian registry. An additional 123 families have lost at least 5 of their members. Forced evacuations of Gaza City and its northern governorates have continued under fire, with approximately 1.3 million people being displaced. Israeli forces have even threatened to evacuate hospitals in Gaza City and the north, which would effectively be a death sentence for the wounded and sick. Furthermore, they have threatened the forcibly displaced people in UNRWA schools, especially after the withdrawal of UNRWA staff from their role in providing assistance to the displaced in these schools. This exacerbates the suffering of the displaced, who have exceeded a million people, living in schools, friends’ and relatives’ homes, stadiums, halls, and hospitals.
It appears that the Israeli military forces are deliberately, systematically, and methodically targeting civilians and their civilian properties, especially residential homes located in densely populated neighborhoods, with the aim of killing children and women and displacing the population. The Israeli military attacks have been accompanied by the use of white phosphorus shells, smoke bombs, and highly destructive warheads. Suspicions are growing regarding the use of chemical weapons, especially in light of the U.S. support for the Israeli state with weaponry.
The International Commission “Hashd” affirms that the destructive and retaliatory nature of the Israeli military attacks is aimed at killing civilians, displacing them, and destroying their property, with the imposition of collective punishment turning Gaza into a disaster-stricken area. This area is living through a worsening humanitarian crisis due to the continuous power cuts, lack of water, and a shortage of medical and relief supplies, as well as the necessary fuel to run the power station and generators in hospitals that are on the verge of shutting down and becoming mass graves.
Throughout the nine days of the ongoing aggression, the Israeli military has escalated its physical violations in the West Bank and Jerusalem since the beginning of the assault on Gaza, resulting in the deaths of 56 Palestinians, injuring approximately 1,500, and the arbitrary arrests of hundreds of Palestinians.
The International Commission “Hashd” condemns the international community’s and international organizations’ continued failure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, as well as the failure to open humanitarian corridors to stop the humanitarian catastrophe faced by civilians. Heshd reiterates the Palestinian people’s right to resist the occupier by all available means, as it is a recognized right under international law. Heshd holds the Israeli military forces and the U.S. government fully responsible for the lives of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories. Heshd warns of the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza due to the ongoing Israeli aggression. It also emphasizes that Israeli disregard for the law, justice, and international action will lead to the continued commission of war crimes and genocide, including the use of artillery shells and aerial missiles containing prohibited chemical substances, in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Israel’s use of modern weaponry and techniques has altered the face of Gaza and aims to harm its environment, rendering it unfit for human habitation. Heshd emphasizes the scorched earth doctrine, a deeply ingrained concept within the Israeli occupation, which has turned the lives of civilian populations into a humanitarian catastrophe. Heshd records and calls for:
- Heshd calls on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to contribute and intervene by launching an independent investigation into the growing suspicions surrounding the use of chemical weapons by Israeli military forces.
- Heshd demands the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor to end the silence and double standards and work to include the crimes committed in Gaza in the file of Israeli crimes under investigation. This is especially crucial given the mounting suspicions of the intentional use of internationally prohibited weapons and modern techniques that aim to alter the fundamental elements of the environment with the intent to annihilate the Palestinian people.
- Heshd urges the United Nations Security Council and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to recognize the importance of international collective and individual action to prevent genocide and war crimes. Immediate steps should be taken to open a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of the wounded, the delivery of medical and relief supplies, and the necessary fuel for operating hospital generators, ambulances, and civil defense vehicles, as well as to ensure the operation of the power station to provide the drinking water that is now scarce.
- Heshd reiterates its call to the United Nations General Assembly to provide international protection for Palestinian civilians in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. Furthermore, Heshd calls for the announcement of a program to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
- Heshd calls for an extraordinary session of the International Human Rights Council to establish an international fact-finding committee to investigate Israeli crimes. These crimes have so far resulted in the annihilation of more than 47 Palestinian families, the deaths of over 800 children and 500 women, and the forced displacement of more than a million Palestinians.
- Heshd emphasizes the importance of UNRWA fulfilling its role and continuing to provide care services to civilians who have sought refuge in its schools in Gaza.
- Heshd calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions and the global community to fulfill their moral and legal obligations to halt the targeting of civilians, women, children, journalists, medical teams, and civilian infrastructure and to press for the respect of international humanitarian law.
- Heshd encourages the international solidarity movement with the Palestinian people and all Arab, regional, and international organizations to take action on all legal, political, diplomatic, human rights, and popular fronts to ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians, especially in Gaza.
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