Date: October 30, 2023
Time: 13:00 local time
Original Language: Arabic
Urgent Humanitarian Appeal
Protect Humanity, Protect Children, Women, and Civilians in Gaza
On the twenty-fifth day of the Israeli genocidal war and continuous aggression on the Gaza Strip, various types of internationally prohibited weapons have been used, including ground, air, and naval bombardment, resulting in the estimated dropping of over 19,000 tons of explosives, equivalent to two nuclear bombs, on an occupied and besieged geographical area of only 360 square kilometres. This area is home to 2.3 million citizens, half of whom are children. Its residents have endured decades of occupation since 1967 and over 17 years of a suffocating blockade, effectively turning Gaza into the world’s largest open-air prison.
The Israeli occupation’s crimes have subjected the people of Gaza to ongoing humanitarian suffering and aggression. Since 2008, not counting the current assault, there have been five previous aggressive wars characterized by war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. The current genocidal war, which is unparalleled in its intensity, has turned Israeli planes, tanks, and warships, as well as American weapons, against children, women, and civilians and their property, falsely declaring them military targets.
The racist and fascist statements made by Israeli military and political officials have stripped Palestinians of their humanity, openly calling for their killing and the destruction of Gaza, while fabricating lies to justify targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. This has manifested itself in acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and collective punitive measures, along with war crimes that have been and continue to be committed. These atrocities have left the streets and residential neighborhoods of Gaza filled with the remains and blood of children and women. More than 900 families have been affected, with their homes bombed without prior warning. This accounts for 65% of the total casualties in this ongoing aggression, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives and left many missing under the rubble of their homes, which have become mass graves emitting the stench of death.
Around 22,000 citizens have been injured, with 70% of the casualties being children, women, and the elderly. Among the injured are journalists, medical staff, paramedics, civil defense personnel, and employees of local and international organizations.
The Israeli aggression, which has continued since October 7, 2023, has forced the forced displacement of 1.7 million people from their homes, representing 74% of the Gaza population. They are now living in conditions even worse than a catastrophe, crowded into shelter centres in UNRWA schools, government schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, universities, and the homes of relatives and friends. They suffer from a lack of services, a shortage of water, scarcity of food, continuous terror due to ongoing brutal shelling, and the absence of electricity and fuel for generators to access water. There has also been partial disruption of communication networks and the internet.
Since the beginning of the aggression, the Israeli war machine has destroyed over 50% of residential buildings in the Gaza Strip, totalling 200,000 housing units. Moreover, 50% of residential, civil, health, commercial, agricultural, economic, governmental, and civil society facilities have been destroyed or damaged, affecting infrastructure, streets, water wells, bakeries, and food and medicine stores. This is part of the scorched-earth policy that has turned urban areas, citizens’ homes, and residential neighborhoods into rubble, altering the demographic landscape and making Gaza uninhabitable. This is particularly evident in the northern Gaza and Gaza City, which are subjected daily to fiery bombardments as part of ground maneuver preparations, showing complete disregard for the lives and property of citizens.
The Israeli aggression, which has been ongoing since October 7, 2023, has led to the collapse of the healthcare system and all humanitarian services, especially those that save lives. The Israeli aggression has led to the closure of 25 hospitals due to shelling or severe damage, with the continued threat to the remaining hospitals, especially the Al-Quds and Al-Shifa Hospitals, which are under constant threat of bombardment. This has put the lives of 100,000 medical staff, wounded, patients, and displaced individuals at risk. In addition, the Israeli aggression targeted the third floor of the Turkish Hospital for Cancer Diseases, reminiscent of the massacre that resulted in 500 martyrs and hundreds of wounded in the Al-Muqadimah Hospital.
The brutal aggression and fuel shortages have led to the halt of half of the ambulances and civil defense vehicles, apart from being targeted. This has diminished their capacity to carry out their roles in the face of continuous bombardments and daily killings. The shortage and aging of equipment in the civil defense further hinder their ability to evacuate the deceased and rescue the wounded from under the rubble. More than 2,000 people, including 1,000 children, remain missing under the debris.
The Israeli aggression has turned Gaza, a besieged territory, into a place where there is no safe haven. Unjustifiably heavy firepower is directed towards civilians and civilian structures, disregarding the principles of distinction, military necessity, and humanity. The continuous imposition of vindictive collective punishments has left people without water, food, respite, and sufficient aid. The limited humanitarian assistance provided is grossly insufficient considering the scale of the catastrophe and needs. Moreover, there is a lack of fuel and electricity to operate vital services and healthcare facilities, most of which have collapsed. This has subjected Palestinians in Gaza to a humanitarian, health, environmental, and epidemic catastrophe, with no means of communication or internet access, depriving them of both internal and external communication.
The International Commission (Hashd) confirms that the Israeli occupation and its army have committed crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, starvation, and thirst, relying on the law of the jungle and blatantly violating all rules of international humanitarian law, the laws of war, particularly the provisions and principles of The Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions, and the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, as well as all the agreements on the rights of the people, especially the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The International Commission (Hashd) appeals to the United Nations and high-contracting parties to the Geneva Conventions to urgently act and take individual and collective action to stop the Israeli aggression in Gaza, provide international protection for civilians, open a humanitarian corridor to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid, medical and relief supplies, and the necessary fuel for hospitals and essential services, as a legal and ethical commitment to protect humanity, international law, and to end the law of the jungle.
The International Commission (Hashd) calls on international and regional humanitarian organizations to take urgent action to provide humanitarian assistance and send civil defense teams, doctors, and relief workers to Gaza to contribute to the rescue of civilians, especially children and women, and to mitigate the humanitarian tragedy faced by civilians.
The International Commission (Hashd) deplores the continued international and regional conspiracy of silence and inaction regarding the heinous and monstrous crimes committed by the state and the military occupation forces in Gaza. It calls for the formation of an international humanitarian alliance to enforce the General Assembly resolution for a ceasefire, ensure a regular flow of all forms of humanitarian support, and stop the obstruction of the work of international humanitarian organizations by the occupation.
The International Commission (Hashd) urges the states that are parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to declare a clear and unequivocal stance on Israel’s refusal to comply with and implement the Convention in the Palestinian territories. It calls for compelling the occupying state to abide by the rules of international humanitarian law and provide protection for civilians, activate the mechanisms of accountability, boycott, and impose sanctions on the Israeli occupation state until it complies with the rules of international humanitarian law and relevant United Nations resolutions on the Palestinian issue.
The International Commission (Hashd) urges all freedom-loving people worldwide, the international solidarity movement with the Palestinian people, members of parliaments, human rights organizations, and all Arab, regional, and international organizations to take action on all legal, political, diplomatic, human rights, and popular fronts to ensure the cessation of aggression and the protection of Palestinian civilians. Furthermore, to support the Palestinian people’s right to end the Israeli occupation
End
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd)
