ICSPR: Escalating Israeli Crimes Against Palestinians and International Solidarity Activists, and the Targeting of International Justice

Date: 20 May 2025

Press Release

ICSPR: Escalating Israeli Crimes Against Palestinians and International Solidarity Activists, and the Targeting of International Justice

The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) is following with grave concern the dangerous escalation in the overall political, humanitarian, and legal developments related to the ongoing Israeli war against the Palestinian people, and the concurrent accelerated attempts to reshape the Palestinian reality through military force, blockade, starvation, and forced displacement, alongside the imposition of political and security approaches aimed at transforming the Palestinian cause from one of national liberation and the end of occupation and settler colonialism into an administrative-security file subject to the logic of guardianship and international control.

ICSPR believes that what the Gaza Strip is facing can no longer be viewed merely as a military assault or an emergency humanitarian crisis. Rather, it has become a comprehensive project aimed at destroying the foundations of Palestinian life and reengineering the demographic, political, and social landscape of the Strip through mass killing, widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, targeting the healthcare system and essential services, and imposing policies of starvation and collective impoverishment, amounting to crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and collective punishment prohibited under international humanitarian law, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the Rome Statute.

ICSPR affirms that the cumulative statistics issued by the health authorities in the Gaza Strip reveal the scale of the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, with the number of martyrs since the beginning of the assault on 7 October 2023 rising to more than $72,773$ martyrs, in addition to more than $172,723$ injuries, while victims remain under the rubble and in the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them because of ongoing bombardment and the targeting of rescue teams.

ICSPR also notes the continued systematic violations of the ceasefire agreement, with more than $881$ martyrs and $2621$ injuries recorded since the agreement entered into force, reflecting the continuation of military operations, the expansion of Israeli field control, and the reduction of the agreement to a fragile and incompletely implemented framework.

ICSPR explains that the aggression has led to the destruction of more than $80\%$ of homes in the Gaza Strip and forced hundreds of thousands of residents to live in overcrowded shelters or tents unfit for human life, within the context of a policy aimed at making life in the Strip impossible and pushing the population toward displacement and social disintegration.

In the same context, ICSPR affirms that the systematic targeting of the healthcare system represents one of the gravest aspects of the ongoing crime, with approximately $60\%$ of health services no longer functioning, the prevention of the entry of medicines, medical supplies, and fuel, and the closure of crossings to the wounded and sick, thereby turning the right to health into an instrument of siege and slow death.

ICSPR also warns of the continued reduction and restriction of humanitarian aid entry and the deliberate manipulation of its quantities at a time when the population of the Strip is facing acute food insecurity and catastrophic shortages of water, medicine, and fuel, making blockade and starvation central tools in the ongoing war.

ICSPR strongly condemns the crime of Israeli occupation forces intercepting the “Global Sumoud Flotilla” in international waters and detaining its activists, considering this an act of organized maritime piracy, a flagrant violation of international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and a direct attack on humanitarian action and international solidarity.

ICSPR also expresses its deep concern over the fact that a number of detained activists have entered into an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, amid increasing reports of torture, ill-treatment, and medical neglect inside Israeli prisons, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

ICSPR condemns the American and Israeli policies aimed at criminalizing international solidarity with the Palestinian people and imposing sanctions on activists and supporters in an attempt to isolate the Palestinian cause and silence human rights and humanitarian voices.

ICSPR further warns against the approaches being proposed under the name of the “Gaza Peace Council,” considering that they seek to reproduce control over the Strip through conditional international mechanisms and to link reconstruction to the disarmament of the resistance and the imposition of long-term security arrangements, thereby turning reconstruction into a tool of political blackmail and obscuring the essence of the issue as that of a people living under occupation.

ICSPR affirms that these approaches ignore the occupation’s direct responsibility for the crimes of killing, starvation, and blockade, and seek to reduce the conflict to security and administrative considerations, thereby stripping Palestinian rights of their political and legal substance.

In the same context, ICSPR reiterates its full support for the independence of the International Criminal Court and warns against pressure campaigns and leaks aimed at obstructing its work, considering this a direct threat to the course of international justice.

ICSPR stresses that the continued impunity of the occupation’s leaders poses a danger to the international justice system and to international peace and security, and entrenches double standards and the undermining of international law.

Accordingly, ICSPR calls on the international community, the United Nations, and third states to take urgent action to stop the crimes of occupation, blockade, and starvation; ensure the protection of civilians; halt violations of the ceasefire; secure the release of the “Sumoud Flotilla” activists and Palestinian prisoners; open serious investigations into the crimes committed in Gaza, Israeli prisons, and international waters; fully lift the blockade; and ensure the unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid.

ICSPR also calls for the rejection of any political arrangements that undermine Palestinian sovereignty, and for reaffirming that the reconstruction of Gaza is an unconditional right, and that any future settlement must end with the termination of the occupation, the realization of a fully sovereign independent Palestinian state with القدس as its capital, and the guarantee of the right of return and self-determination.