Date: 25 Mar 2024
Press Release
The International Commission “Hashd” Warns of Deteriorating Humanitarian Conditions and State of Chaos, Calls for Consolidated Efforts to Protect Civil Peace Amid Aggression on Gaza Strip
The International Committee for Palestinian Rights “Hushd” held its tenth press conference in front of Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah City, addressing the catastrophic humanitarian situation and the ongoing genocide, now in its 171st day. Lawyer Alaa Dawwad read from the press conference statement, which highlighted the worsening humanitarian crisis and chaos caused by the genocide and continuous Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. The occupation persists in its crimes, resulting in the deaths and injuries of thousands, the destruction of 75% of homes, humanitarian and economic facilities, and infrastructure, and the forced displacement of nearly 2 million people. These crimes have continued for six months amidst the shameful international failure to stop them or provide international protection for Palestinians or ensure the flow of humanitarian aid. This has led to increased indicators of insecurity, chaos, and lawlessness, weakening civil peace and the ability of Gaza’s people, especially the vulnerable, to access the resources needed for resilience. Instances of aid theft and obstruction of aid trucks have spread due to Israeli policies aiming to dismantle Palestinian society, exacerbate internal chaos, and drive people into forced migration. Additionally, Israel seeks to sow division among the hungry by selectively distributing aid via trucks and aerial drops.
The International Commission “Hashd” has observed a recent escalation in psychological, social, and economic pressures due to the aggression and the lack of response to citizens’ needs, as well as the disruption and collapse of service and humanitarian institutions. This has led to the spread of security chaos, absence of the rule of law, and the emergence of family and social disputes, theft, and looting of public and private property, along with the rise of roadblock culture by known families resorting to aid theft, exacerbated by the absence of police due to deliberate Israeli attacks on accompanying police facilities and relief agency staff. This has intensified monopolies, price hikes, shortages of goods and aid, and the disruption of regulatory and law enforcement agencies, worsening these phenomena.
During the ongoing Israeli aggression, the International Committee has documented hundreds of cases of home burglaries, theft from citizens’ homes, warehouses, aid distribution centers, shops, and public facilities, as well as dozens of cases of forced robbery and unfortunate family disputes resulting in fatalities and injuries. These incidents occur within the context of deliberate Israeli policies aimed at causing systematic chaos, deepening humanitarian crises in Gaza, obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid, targeting civilian police forces, and destroying and hindering the work of judicial institutions in prosecuting these crimes and violations. This renders the Gaza Strip a devastated and uninhabitable area, where famine, crime, and chaos prevail, enhancing the chances of forced displacement of citizens outside Palestinian territories.
The International Commission “Hashd” looks with grave concern at the deterioration of the rule of law in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli aggression. It warns of the repercussions on the humanitarian situation, civil peace, and social fabric. The Israeli occupation bears primary responsibility for the genocide, collective punishment, continuation of catastrophic humanitarian conditions, and insistence on creating a state of chaos in the sector, exacerbating famine and humanitarian disaster.
Israeli forces deliberately destroy the humanitarian service system in Gaza and impose severe famine through the use of starvation, killing, destruction, and forced displacement. They target police forces and courts to fuel chaos and security instability. Additionally, they obstruct and hinder the work of governmental, international, and civil service institutions.
Recognizing the role of all parties, actors, and humanitarian service providers operating in extremely difficult and complex conditions, The International Commission “Hashd” registers and demands the following:
Hashd calls on the international community to compel Israel to immediately halt its aggression and cease committing genocide targeting 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza through policies of mass murder, physical and psychological harm, widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure, and collective punishment through starvation, thirst, deprivation of medical treatment, and forced displacement under dire conditions, followed by targeting them in their places of displacement and killing them.
Hashd urges the high contracting parties to the Geneva Conventions to compel Israel, as the occupying power, to fulfill all its obligations under Articles 55 and 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This includes establishing suitable mechanisms to deliver humanitarian aid to ensure the protection and dignity of civilians and pressure for the provision of more humanitarian corridors by land, sea, and air to facilitate the work of international humanitarian institutions in delivering the required quantities of food and medicine, especially to the residents of northern Gaza who are suffering from severe famine claiming dozens of lives daily.
Hashd calls for the consolidation of all national and community efforts to protect civil peace, establish popular committees in all areas of the sector to support the work of governmental and international agencies, ensure the protection of aid convoys, monitor and control price hikes, ensure aid reaches its beneficiaries, resolve conflicts, and combat manifestations of thuggery and chaos, taking the law into their hands. This comes amid the deliberate Israeli bombings of security headquarters, targeting police and security personnel, preventing the Israeli occupation from achieving its goals of spreading crime, chaos, internal strife, and destroying the pillars of civil peace.
Hashd demands that the international community provide international protection for Palestinians and exert serious pressure on the Israeli occupation to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid and facilitate the work of international institutions, especially UNRWA, to ensure the delivery of humanitarian and relief aid to all areas of the Gaza Strip.
End
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd)
