(ICSRP) From Killing Palestinians and Withholding Their Bodies to Settling the West Bank, Judaizing Jerusalem, and Annihilating Gaza One Colonial System to Entrench Annexation, Displacement, and the Elimination of Palestinian Rights

Date: 13 August 2026

Press Release

International Commission (ICSRP): From Killing Palestinians and Withholding Their Bodies to Settling the West Bank, Judaizing Jerusalem, and Annihilating Gaza One Colonial System to Entrench Annexation, Displacement, and the Elimination of Palestinian Rights

The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSRP) condemns in the strongest terms the continued escalation by the Israeli occupation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the crimes of killing, arrest, demolition, displacement, settlement construction, organised settler terrorism, violations against holy sites and educational and humanitarian institutions in Jerusalem, the withholding of the bodies of martyrs, and the concealment of the fate of missing persons, alongside the ongoing killing, bombardment, starvation, and destruction in the Gaza Strip.

The Commission affirms that these crimes cannot be treated as isolated incidents or individual violations. Rather, they are interconnected links within an integrated Israeli colonial system aimed at forcibly reshaping Palestinian reality, imposing annexation and settlement construction, emptying the land of its inhabitants, and undermining the foundations of the Palestinian people’s existence and their inalienable right to self-determination.

ICSRP affirms that the bloody escalation in the West Bank, including the killing of Palestinians in Nablus and escalating settler attacks, reveals that the occupation has entered a more dangerous phase of combining military force with settler terrorism and official government policies. The Nablus Governorate and its surrounding towns and villages have witnessed an escalating wave of raids and attacks, alongside killings, arrests, and demolitions, while Palestinians are subjected to organised attacks against their homes, vehicles, lands, and property.

The Commission stresses that turning settlers into a field instrument for implementing a policy of displacement, while providing them with military and political protection, makes the occupying state directly responsible for these crimes and does not allow it to evade responsibility by portraying them as individual acts.

ICSRP stresses that the continued attacks in Qusra, Burqa, Al-Taybeh, Kafr Laqif, Salfit, Nablus, and elsewhere—and the siege of Palestinian families inside their homes, the cutting off of water and electricity, and the prevention of ambulances from reaching them, as documented by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the town of Qusra—represent a dangerous shift from sporadic attacks to the imposition of a reality of siege and organised terror on Palestinian communities.

The raiding of homes and the conversion of some of them into military barracks, the arrest of members of the families of martyrs, and the expansion of arrest campaigns are all practices confirming that the objective goes beyond individual punishment to subjugating the Palestinian environment as a whole and pushing it towards forced displacement.

ICSRP considers the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the commencement of the demolition of 26 Arab buildings in Jenin, together with statements about paving the way for the resumption of settlement construction and the reopening of the previously evacuated settlement of “Ganim,” to be an extremely dangerous development. It confirms that settlement construction and annexation are no longer merely projects of settler groups but have become declared Israeli government policy.

Israeli calls to dismantle the Palestinian Authority and prevent President Mahmoud Abbas from returning to the West Bank also reveal a political direction aimed at undermining every manifestation of Palestinian political presence and preparing the ground for the imposition of direct and permanent Israeli control over the West Bank.

ICSRP affirms that the targeting of children and civilians in the West Bank reflects the widening scope of the humanitarian danger. UNICEF has reported the killing of 174 Palestinian children in the West Bank since January 2024. The Commission considers that the continued killing of children, arrests, house demolitions, displacement, and settler terrorism, in the absence of effective international protection mechanisms, constitute a flagrant failure to implement the rules of international law that require the occupying power to protect the civilian population under its occupation.

ICSRP also condemns the continued arbitrary arrests and the targeting of Palestinian journalists, as part of a systematic policy aimed at silencing Palestinian voices and preventing the documentation of crimes and violations. The number of male and female journalists detained in Israeli occupation prisons has risen to approximately 40, according to available information, following the arrest of journalist Mohammed Awad. This constitutes a violation of press freedom and of the protection afforded by international law to journalists while carrying out their duties.

ICSRP affirms that the file of Palestinian prisoners is witnessing serious deterioration amid continuing reports of torture, ill-treatment, medical neglect, deprivation of the most basic necessities of life, overcrowding, poor sleeping and hygiene conditions, and the absence of adequate healthcare. The death in detention of prisoner Ihab Diab is also an extremely serious indication that deprivation of treatment and medical care has become a tool of punishment and cruel treatment, requiring an independent international investigation and accountability for those responsible for these policies.

ICSRP condemns in the strongest terms the policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinians and follows with grave concern what was reported by Haaretz regarding the occupation authorities’ retention of the bodies of approximately 1,700 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and their use, according to the report, as a future bargaining chip. This is in addition to estimates that around 2,000 people have completely disappeared during the war on Gaza.

The Commission affirms that withholding bodies, refusing to disclose the fate and whereabouts of missing persons, and depriving families of knowing the fate of their children and burying their dead with dignity constitute a grave violation of the rules of international humanitarian law. Depending on the circumstances of each case, such acts may amount to war crimes and the crime of enforced disappearance. The use of victims’ bodies as a political or negotiating bargaining chip also constitutes a flagrant violation of human dignity and of the rights of victims and their families.

ICSRP affirms that the targeting of Jerusalem goes beyond raids on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to a systematic attempt to undermine the Palestinian presence and its educational and international institutions. The occupation authorities forcibly closed six schools in East Jerusalem, including schools in the Shuafat refugee camp, depriving approximately 800 children of their right to education. This occurred alongside UNRWA’s warning of the imminent seizure of its facilities in the camp.

The Commission considers these measures part of an integrated policy of Judaization targeting Palestinian people, institutions, identity, and presence in Jerusalem, in violation of the rules of international law prohibiting an occupying power from altering the character, demographic composition, or institutional structure of occupied territory.

ICSRP affirms that the Gaza Strip is also experiencing a renewed phase of aggression, killing, and assassinations, and that the ceasefire has not translated into effective protection for civilians. Rather, the occupation continues to violate it systematically through bombardment, targeting, assassinations, and destruction.

In recent hours, motorcycles and vehicles in Beit Lahia and Khan Younis have been targeted, resulting in the killing of Muhannad Saadeh and Hudhayfa Karawaa. The area of Bab Salah Sports Hall in Khan Younis was also targeted, resulting in one martyr and one serious injury. A vehicle near the New Port in the Sheikh Ajleen neighbourhood, southwest of Gaza City, was also targeted. This culminated in the bombing of the vehicle of the Director of Police in Gaza Governorate, Colonel Jamal Mahmoud Abu Kamil, aged 43, resulting in his killing.

The Commission considers that the repetition of such attacks in different areas of the Gaza Strip, and the direct targeting of persons and vehicles, confirms that field assassinations have become a recurring pattern of extrajudicial killing.

ICSRP affirms that the continuation of these operations comes within a broader context of occupation violations of the ceasefire agreement, which the Commission has previously documented. These violations have reached 3,795 incidents, resulting in the killing of 1,200 Palestinians, the injury of more than 4,000 others, and the arrest of 149 people. The total death toll since 7 October 2023 has exceeded 73,000 martyrs, with 174,000 injuries, while thousands of martyrs and missing persons remain under the rubble.

The Commission stresses the necessity of treating these figures as indicators of a continuing systematic pattern of killing and destruction, rather than as merely incidents resulting from accidental violations.

ICSRP stresses that the catastrophe in Gaza is not limited to the numbers of martyrs and wounded. It extends to the destruction of families, shelter, education, health, and food security; the continued forced displacement; and the deprivation of the population of water, food, fuel, medicine, and the basic necessities of life.

The continuation of attacks amid the spread of dilapidated tents and harsh weather conditions turns temporary shelter into another instrument for deepening suffering. The children of Gaza, who sleep in tents or on the ground and lack security, food, water, and healthcare, are living testimony to the international community’s failure to fulfil its legal and humanitarian obligations toward the civilian population.

ICSRP considers that withholding bodies, enforced disappearance, the torture of prisoners and their medical neglect, the targeting of journalists, house demolitions, settlement construction, settler terrorism, the Judaization of Jerusalem, school closures, and the continued killing, starvation, and destruction in Gaza are not separate files. Rather, they are interconnected components of one colonial project targeting the land, the people, identity, existence, and Palestinian national rights.

The occupation’s transition from military occupation to the imposition of a permanent settler-colonial reality through annexation, settlement construction, displacement, and the dismantling of Palestinian institutions constitutes a direct threat to the international legal order and to the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

ICSRP affirms that the continuation of these policies while the international community remains unable to enforce respect for international law represents a serious test of the credibility of the international system as a whole. It is no longer acceptable to be satisfied with statements of concern and condemnation while crimes continue daily on the ground.

Protecting civilians, halting the transfer of weapons that may be used to commit crimes, holding those responsible accountable, and enforcing respect for international legitimacy resolutions are not political options; rather, they are legal obligations incumbent upon states and international parties.

ICSRP holds the Israeli occupation government and the political and military officials involved in these policies fully responsible for the crimes and violations committed against the Palestinian people. It also holds the states that provide the occupation with political, military, or diplomatic protection legally and morally responsible for the continuation of these crimes.

The Commission calls on Arab and Islamic states to move from statements of condemnation to an effective collective policy that uses diplomatic, legal, and economic tools to protect the Palestinian people, their holy sites, and their land.

ICSRP affirms that what is taking place in occupied Palestine is no longer merely a continuation of occupation in its traditional form. Rather, it is an attempt to re-engineer the Palestinian cause through mass killing and genocide in Gaza; annexation, settlement construction, and displacement in the West Bank; Judaization and the undermining of the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem; as well as arrest, enforced disappearance, and the withholding of bodies.

Therefore, confronting this project cannot be achieved through crisis management or mere condemnation. It requires changing the equation of impunity and imposing a real legal, political, and economic cost on the occupation.

The Commission affirms that protecting the Palestinian people and ending the occupation are not merely matters of political or moral solidarity, but an obligation under international law. Any settlement that does not address the roots of occupation, settlement construction, annexation, and displacement, and that does not guarantee the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, will remain incapable of producing a just and sustainable peace.

Accordingly, the International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSRP) calls for:

1. The Security Council and the international community to take immediate and binding measures to halt all Israeli crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory and ensure the protection of civilians.

2. Obliging the occupation to halt annexation, settlement construction, demolitions, and displacement in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and to stop the re-establishment of settlements and settlement outposts.

3. Providing urgent international protection for the Palestinian people in the West Bank, particularly in areas subjected to settler attacks, and establishing international mechanisms for monitoring, documentation, and protection.

4. Dismantling the system of settler terrorism; holding accountable the perpetrators of killing, arson, assault, and land seizure; and holding accountable the officials who provide them with protection or incitement.

5. Obliging the occupation authorities to immediately disclose the fate of all missing persons, forcibly disappeared persons, and withheld bodies of martyrs, and to hand over the bodies to their families without conditions or bargaining.

6. Enabling the International Committee of the Red Cross and competent international organisations to have immediate and unconditional access to all Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and to investigate their health and living conditions, as well as cases of torture and medical neglect.

7. Halting arbitrary detention and the targeting of journalists and human-rights defenders, releasing all arbitrarily detained persons, and guaranteeing freedom of journalistic and human-rights work.

8. Halting all Israeli measures aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem and altering its demographic, historical, and legal character; reopening closed schools and educational institutions; and protecting UNRWA facilities, privileges, and immunities.

9. Immediately halting all forms of aggression against the Gaza Strip, fully adhering to the ceasefire agreement, and ending the policy of assassinations and field targeting.

10. Opening all crossings and ensuring the free, safe, and adequate flow of humanitarian assistance, including food, medical supplies, fuel, shelter materials, and prefabricated homes, in proportion to the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe.

11. Calling on the International Criminal Court to expedite investigations into war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, settlement construction, displacement, and enforced disappearance, and to prosecute all those responsible without selectivity or delay.

12. Calling on States Parties to the Rome Statute to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court, implement its arrest warrants, and reject any political immunity for international crimes.

13. Calling on states that supply weapons or provide military support to the occupation to halt any transfer of weapons and equipment that may be used to commit violations of international law, and to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law.

14. Calling on the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to adopt a unified Arab and Islamic action plan that includes diplomatic, legal, economic, and political tools to protect Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, and to support the Palestinian people.

15. Calling on the Palestinian Authority and all Palestinian forces and factions to unify the national position, end division, and build a comprehensive national strategy to confront annexation, settlement construction, and displacement projects, while renewing Palestinian legitimacy and institutions on the basis of partnership and democracy.

16. Calling on the international community to address the roots of the conflict by ending the Israeli occupation of occupied Palestinian land and guaranteeing the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and to establish their independent, fully sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the rules of international law and international legitimacy resolutions.

End