Date: 6 Nev, 2023
Time: 13:00 local time
Original Language: Arabic
Urgent Humanitarian Appeal
Enough of silence and inaction regarding the genocide in Gaza. Let us work to immediately stop the Israeli aggression and protect civilians
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd) calls on every free person in the world, all nations, their governments, international and regional organizations, members of parliaments, human rights organizations, and humanitarian organizations. This is an urgent appeal, each in accordance with their legal, ethical, and humanitarian obligations, to take immediate action to pressure the belligerent state of Israel to cease its genocidal war and its ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip. These operations are targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in all areas of Gaza, without discrimination, proportionality, or necessity. The Israeli aggression has continued for 31 consecutive days, resulting in the deaths of 10,000 people, including 4,048 children, 2,550 women, 596 elderly individuals, 176 medical and rescue personnel, 47 journalists, and 80 UNRWA employees. Around 25,000 more people have been wounded, with 70% of them being children and women. Among the injuries are critical cases that the occupation is preventing from being evacuated to hospitals in the Arab Republic of Egypt after Gaza was divided into two parts during the Israeli ground invasion of some areas of the Strip. Additionally, hospitals have been intentionally targeted, with threats of evacuation, and the targeting of ambulance vehicles, especially the convoys of the wounded, in flagrant violation of the minimum principles of international humanitarian law and international human rights conventions, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols.
The Israeli belligerent aggression currently being carried out in the occupied territories constitutes a genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, as evident in the deliberate killing of Palestinian civilians, especially children, women, journalists, and medical personnel, as well as the destruction of residential neighborhoods and the homes of citizens, which Israel has treated as military bases, committing devastating war crimes against the most densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in the world. Israel imposed punitive measures by cutting off electricity, water, and communication, blocking the passage of humanitarian aid and medical supplies, and the necessary fuel for operating generators in hospitals, ambulances, civil defense, bakeries, and water wells, as well as restricting the movement of citizens.
The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza and the unprecedented genocide under the current racist and fascist occupation government, along with the racist statements by many of its ministers filled with hatred and incitement against the people of Gaza, demanding their extermination and dehumanizing them, confirm their disregard for international humanitarian law and the laws of war. They considered all of Gaza’s population, which totals 2.3 million, including 1 million children under 15 years of age, as legitimate targets. Israeli Heritage Minister Yair Lapid even called for using nuclear weapons against Gaza’s population, indicating the extent of incitement, as confirmed by the facts on the ground. According to the Israeli army’s statements, expert estimates, and documented actions, nearly 28,000 tons of explosives, equivalent to more than two nuclear bombs like those dropped on Hiroshima, have been dropped. Various prohibited weapons have been used, including white phosphorus and vacuum concussion weapons, from which chemical gases are emitted. This has led to the destruction of half of citizens’ buildings, residential structures, and civilian facilities, including hospitals, health clinics, schools, mosques, churches, government and civil institutions, economic and commercial facilities, agricultural lands, civilian vehicles, fishing boats, and infrastructure.
These heinous violations blatantly disregard the rules of international humanitarian law, the laws of war, especially the Geneva Conventions of The Hague, the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, international human rights law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and other conventions that guarantee the fundamental rights of civilians and forbid their confiscation or reduction. They also constitute war crimes and international crimes and an unjustified violation of the belligerent military occupation authorities’ responsibilities towards the inhabitants of the occupied territory, according to international jurisprudence and the laws governing the powers of the belligerent military occupation. The legal rules protecting civilians in all cases should be enforced.
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd) warns of the continued silence and inaction of the international community and condemns the continued American support and bias of some European governments towards Israeli aggression. These governments bear legal and ethical responsibility for the international crimes and grave violations committed in Gaza. We express our concern about the continuation and escalation of the brutal and savage escalation, especially in light of the expansion of ground operations and the division of the Gaza Strip into two parts, as well as the continued policy of scorched earth. This policy resulted in more than 1,100 massacres against families, their houses, and residential neighborhoods, without prior warning. This includes the levelling and settling of civilian structures with explosives to protect tanks and Israeli soldiers infiltrating some areas of the Strip, without any concern for civilians, their souls, or their property.
The Israeli occupation’s attacks and acts of genocide and war crimes have led to an increase in the number of displaced people to nearly 700,000, who have left their homes to seek refuge in UNRWA schools, which have announced the crowding of nearly 700,000 displaced people, suffering from a lack of water and food. UNRWA also declared that 50 of its schools, which house displaced people forcibly, have been targeted and damaged, committing massacres among them, resulting in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of citizens. Additionally, approximately one million displaced individuals are living with relatives, friends, in schools, universities, private institutions, mosques, churches, and even on the streets. Hospitals are overcrowded with thousands of patients, the wounded, and displaced people, despite being frequently targeted, as was the case in the shelling of the Al-Ahli Hospital, leading to the deaths of approximately 500 citizens, most of them children and women. Hospitals continue to be prevented from receiving fuel and medical supplies, especially for Gaza City hospitals and those in the north.
In the midst of the ongoing Israeli aggression, now in its 31st day, civilians are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe as human and health services continue to collapse. The systematic destruction of what remains of essential facilities and vital life components, including water wells, bakeries, shops, solar cells on hospital and school rooftops, communication towers, especially in Gaza City and the northern regions, persists. The Israeli occupation state continues to close the crossings with Gaza, cut off electricity and water supplies, and block the entry of fuel needed to operate power stations, ensuring access to drinking water and the operation of hospitals, most of which have suspended their generators, essentially turning them into mass graves for patients and the wounded. The environmental and health catastrophe is ongoing, as there is no access to water for bathing, sanitation, or the operation of sewage stations, leading to the accumulation of waste in the streets and shelter centres, with the consequent spread of health epidemics.
Throughout this aggression, civilians are living in dire humanitarian conditions where access to food and water is scarce. People have to wait for hours in front of bakeries and water stations, which are still operational, although food and essential health supplies are in short supply in most retail stores. This situation indicates that the aggression is intended to cause a slow and collective extermination of the population, counting on the forced displacement of Gazans by making the region a destroyed and uninhabitable area.
The continuous Israeli aggression, which has resulted in the death and injury of nearly 2% of Gaza’s population, with 70% of buildings destroyed, thousands of people buried under the rubble, and thousands more losing their homes, underlines the dire need for humanitarian assistance. The lack of resources and equipment for the Civil Defense to evacuate bodies from under the rubble leaves thousands of corpses under the debris, emitting the stench of death, posing significant health risks and preventing proper burials. In many cases, the bodies are unidentifiable, having been dismembered, leading to their burial in mass graves.
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd) stresses that the war of genocide is targeting civilians, especially children and women, and turning civilian structures into military targets. The continuation of these brutal military attacks on Gaza threatens a catastrophic humanitarian disaster, with the looming danger of dehydration, starvation, extermination, forced displacement of civilians, and the ongoing policies of terror, blockade, suffering, and sorrow.
It is imperative that you take immediate action, either individually or collectively, to halt the aggression immediately. The persistence of this aggression means the continuous targeting of more innocent lives and their properties in Gaza. The international community should pressure Israel to respect and adhere to international humanitarian law and the rules of war, protect civilians, prevent their targeting, allow the evacuation of the wounded, ensure the flow of medical supplies and humanitarian aid, and reject the equation of partial aid. Additionally, pressure should be applied to allow the entry of the necessary fuel to operate power generators in hospitals and ambulances and restore electricity and communication services.
By fulfilling your ethical and legal responsibilities, you can stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza and ensure the enforcement of the rule of law, humanity, justice, and international accountability for human rights violations, as justice delayed is justice denied.
In conclusion, we hope that you will endorse this urgent appeal, whether as an individual, on behalf of your country, or within your organization, and share it widely with officials, governments, parliament members, and international institutions to ensure a swift response to these fair demands. Delaying action could result in further loss of lives
End
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd)
