ICSPR Condemns Escalating Israeli Crimes Against Civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, and Urges the International Community to Intervene Immediately to Stop the Genocide

Date: 12 July 2025

Press Release

(ICSPR) Condemns Escalating Israeli Crimes Against Civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, and Urges the International Community to Intervene Immediately to Stop the Genocide

The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) is following with deep concern the continued perpetration of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other grave violations by the Israeli occupation forces against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, amid a suspicious international silence that amounts to complicity, reinforcing a clear equation of failure to fulfill the legal and humanitarian duties that third-party states are obligated to uphold in protecting civilians and respecting the rules of international law.

On Friday alone, hospitals in Gaza received (82) martyrs and (247) injuries, in addition to (71) martyrs since the early hours of Saturday, including (29) victims of aid distributions, in an initial toll, and (180) injuries, while thousands remain missing under the rubble and in the streets due to the inability of ambulance and civil defense teams to reach them.

According to follow-ups, Israeli forces bombed the Halima Al-Saadia School, which shelters displaced people in the “Jabalia Al-Nazla” area in the north of the Strip, resulting in the martyrdom of (10) civilians and the injury of others—an evident crime against civilians sheltered in UNRWA facilities. Furthermore, (39) civilians were martyred, and over (240) others injured on Friday and Saturday morning as a result of gunfire while waiting for humanitarian aid in the Al-Shakoush area northwest of Rafah, bringing the total number of “bread-seeking martyrs” to (805) with over (5,252) injuries.

Dozens of other civilians were also killed and injured over the past two days due to a series of attacks and crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces through aerial bombings of residential buildings, tents for the displaced, and shelters—executing daily, systematic massacres as part of a genocidal war. This brings the total toll of Israel’s genocide and aggression since October 7 until now to (57,882) martyrs and (138,095) injuries among those who reached hospitals, including (7,311) martyrs and (26,054) injuries since March 18, 2025, to date.

These developments come amid escalating Israeli crimes, notably:

• The continuation of starvation crimes by occupation forces against approximately 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza, where 96% of the population lives under severe food insecurity, including more than one million children. So far, 67 children have died due to malnutrition, while around 650,000 children under the age of five are at risk of life-threatening acute malnutrition. Around 3,000 children, pregnant and lactating women are currently being treated for acute malnutrition in operating hospitals and field clinics amid the absence of infant formula, nutritional supplements, and food.

• The Israeli occupation has banned fishing and swimming across Gaza’s maritime zone, exacerbating the suffering of Gaza’s residents by depriving them of key food sources. This ban coincides with a continued ground offensive and the issuance of more forced displacement orders targeting vast areas in western Gaza City and the western neighborhoods of Khan Younis. These orders are accompanied by horrific collective massacres aimed at forcibly displacing civilians into overcrowded displacement zones suffering from extreme shortages of tents, space, water, food, health, and humanitarian services. The ongoing and systematic targeting of displacement tents seeks to reshape the demographic reality, fragment the social fabric, reduce Gaza’s territory, and turn displacement zones into shrinking detention camps—gradually pushing the population out of Gaza through the combined use of aid and famine as a weapon, alongside a brutal military campaign, to complete the stages of genocide by rendering the Strip uninhabitable.

• The ongoing systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists to silence free voices and prevent the documentation of crimes. The number of journalist martyrs has risen to (229) since the start of the genocide war, the latest being journalist Ahmed Salameh Abu Aisha—a reporter and photographer with Palestine Today Agency—who was targeted by a drone in front of his home in the Al-Sawarha area west of Al-Nuseirat camp, in a full-fledged war crime and a blatant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

• On Friday, occupation forces raided the Turkish Cemetery in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, where tanks desecrated graves, exhumed bodies, and stole dozens of corpses, coinciding with the bulldozing and destruction of the forcibly displaced camps surrounding the cemetery—resulting in the displacement of hundreds of families.

• The continued imposition of a suffocating blockade by occupation forces, obstructing the entry of humanitarian and relief aid, has deepened the crisis and humanitarian catastrophe facing Gaza’s residents, leading to the near-total collapse of hospital capabilities to provide medical services due to the near-total closure of crossings for the 133rd consecutive day and fuel shortages. This threatens to shut down vital departments such as intensive care units, neonatal incubators, and dialysis machines. Hospitals are forced to cut power to other sections just to keep critical departments partially functional, amid an imminent humanitarian and health disaster threatening thousands of patients and wounded individuals, particularly children, chronically ill patients, and the elderly.

• The attack by settler militias on the town of Sinjil north of Ramallah on Friday evening, resulting in the martyrdom of two Palestinian youths, one of whom held American citizenship, and the injury of 40 others, is part of systematic attacks carried out under the protection and direct support of the Israeli army—amounting to a full-fledged crime against civilians in the West Bank amid international silence and failure to hold perpetrators accountable.

The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) affirms that the unprecedented genocide and the daily crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against civilians—including the destruction and targeting of protected civilian sites such as schools, cemeteries, and aid distribution points—are war crimes and flagrant violations of the rules of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. These crimes fall under genocide, ethnic cleansing, and systematic starvation and thirst. ICSPR holds Israel and its partner the United States fully responsible for these crimes and the escalating Israeli crimes in the West Bank. It condemns the European Union’s hesitation to impose sanctions on the occupying state and calls on EU countries to implement the demands of European human rights and public opinion, and the recent calls by European ambassadors to suspend trade agreements with Israel. ICSPR notes and demands the following:

1. The international community must act immediately to stop the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people, ensure the urgent entry of food, medical, and humanitarian aid into Gaza, and intensify pressure on the occupying state to fulfill its responsibilities as a belligerent occupier under international humanitarian law.

2. Immediate intervention is needed to halt crimes against civilians, including children, women, journalists, medical teams, and humanitarian workers, and to ensure their protection in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights conventions.

3. The International Criminal Court must expedite the issuance of further arrest warrants against Israeli leaders and their partners and follow up on the implementation of existing warrants.

4. Third-party states, international and regional organizations, the Hague Group, and global advocates of justice must continue political, diplomatic, legal, and humanitarian efforts to form an international humanitarian coalition for compulsory intervention to stop Israeli crimes, protect and support Gaza’s population, and impose sanctions and boycott measures against the occupying state of Israel.

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The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR)