The International Commission Hashd in Gaza witnesses the worst famine and humanitarian disaster amidst the ongoing genocide for the seventh month, with international failure to protect Palestinians

Date: 11 Apr 2024

Press Release

The International Commission “Hashd” in Gaza witnesses the worst famine and humanitarian disaster amidst the ongoing genocide for the seventh month, with international failure to protect Palestinians.

The International Commission to Support the Rights of the Palestinian People “Hashd” condemns the continuation of Israeli aggression and genocide in the Gaza Strip, as Israel persists in its aggression disregarding the resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly of the United Nations, the decisions of the International Court of Justice, and international demands to stop the crimes of the Israeli occupation and protect Palestinians from genocide. This comes alongside continued American support and blatant international failure. The Palestinian people in Gaza are experiencing unprecedented famine and humanitarian disaster in the history of international conflicts, continuing for the seventh consecutive month. The crimes of the Israeli occupation and collective punishment have had serious repercussions on humanitarian conditions, resulting in the absence of the barest essentials of life, including shelter, food, water, electricity, and medicine. The shortage of humanitarian aid, along with the spread of severe famine, diseases, and epidemics, is exacerbated by excessive use of overwhelming force against civilians, leading to the destruction of approximately 80% of homes and structures in the Gaza Strip and the displacement of more than 90% of the population. They are living in a humanitarian catastrophe, deprived of most services and human needs necessary for survival.

On the first day of Eid al-Fitr, Israeli occupation forces continued to commit various types of international crimes against civilians, most notably continuing to commit mass massacres by bombing civilian homes and extrajudicial killings, resulting in the deaths of 140 civilians, including 5 children of the leader of Hamas. Meanwhile, the civil defense and ambulance teams continued to retrieve the bodies of martyrs in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital and Khan Younis city after the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces, where more than 600 bodies, most of them decomposed, were found, raising the death toll of those who reached hospitals to more than 33,560 martyrs, 73% of whom are children and women. The number of wounded has reached more than 76,000, including 12,000 in need of travel for treatment outside the Gaza Strip, while nearly 10,000 are still missing under the rubble. The evacuation and retrieval of bodies from under the rubble continue in areas of the Strip infiltrated by the occupation on the ground, despite the limited resources available, necessitating allowing humanitarian teams and necessary equipment to enter for debris removal and facilitating the work of civil defense teams.

The International Commission “Hashd”: condemns the continued failure of the international community to halt the suffering of more than 2 million forcibly displaced persons in shelters and tents, living in indescribable humanitarian suffering due to severe famine, the spread of diseases and epidemics, the absence of life’s essentials, aid shortages, and the collapse of humanitarian services.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Condemns the Israeli occupation forces’ ongoing separation of the Gaza Strip, preventing forcibly displaced individuals from returning to their homes and residential areas, and continuing systematic destruction operations of infrastructure in the region. They obstruct the entry of aid and the work of international organizations, especially the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), deliberately targeting aid recipients and those protecting it to spread chaos within the Gaza Strip and lead it towards security deterioration and internal strife.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Condemns the Israeli occupation’s crimes against prisoners and detainees in Israeli occupation prisons, the latest being the killing and martyrdom of the prisoner Walid Duqa due to medical negligence and continuous torture in Israeli occupation prisons, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of prisoners and detainees. They call on international organizations and the Red Cross to escalate pressure on the Israeli occupation to compel it to cease its serious violations against prisoners in occupation prisons, ensure knowledge of the whereabouts and conditions of detention of more than 6,000 male and female prisoners arrested during the ongoing Israeli aggression, especially amid repeated testimonies from victims and media reports confirming that some of them have been subjected to extrajudicial executions. Furthermore, they condemn the imprisonment of prisoners in unknown locations, exposure to torture, and treatment that undermines their dignity, as well as the use of racist laws against hundreds of them, depriving them of all guarantees stipulated in the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Condemns the international community’s failure to halt Israeli aggression and genocide crimes, implement the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly, and enforce the rulings of the International Court of Justice aimed at protecting Palestinians from the crime of genocide. They stress the need to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid and facilitate the work of international organizations, particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, by providing the necessary funding to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, given the catastrophic conditions its residents are enduring.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Affirms that the continuation of the genocide war against Palestinian civilians for the seventh consecutive month is a stain on humanity as a whole, requiring more than condemnation and condemnation. It calls for serious individual and collective action to stop the aggression and prevent the expansion of the ground assault, especially in the central governorate where the occupation forces have escalated their massacres and crimes against civilians, particularly in the city of Al-Nusairat.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Calls on the international community to intervene to prevent the ground assault on the city of Rafah, which accommodates approximately one and a half million displaced persons and citizens. This is particularly urgent given the Israeli war criminals’ officials’ statements about their intention to invade it, which threatens to exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe beyond what the ground invasion of Rafah will entail in terms of massacres against civilians and the destruction of remaining civilian and health facilities in the Strip, thus completing new chapters of catastrophe against Palestinians and their displacement outside Palestinian territories.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Commends the Human Rights Council’s decisions to ban arms exports to the Israeli occupation state and urges countries worldwide to impose sanctions and boycott the Israeli occupation state, leading to its expulsion from the United Nations until it complies with the decisions of the International Court of Justice and relevant resolutions of the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations regarding the Palestinian issue, and respects the rules of international humanitarian law and human rights charters.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Calls on the international community to ensure the expedited entry of humanitarian aid and supplies through all air, sea, and land routes to stop severe famine and contribute to lifting the blockade. It also calls for the entry of equipment and machinery designated for excavation works (excavators) to assist in retrieving the bodies of martyrs from under the rubble of destroyed homes, where thousands of bodies are still buried in areas vacated by the Israeli occupation forces from Khan Yunis and the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital, among other areas of the Strip.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Applauds Nicaragua’s decision to file a lawsuit against Germany before the International Court of Justice for supplying Israel with weapons in its war on Gaza. It calls on all lawyers and free world countries to take action in all possible ways to ensure the accountability of the Israeli occupation state and its partners before international justice.

The International Commission “Hashd”: Coalition: Salutes the resilience of the Palestinian people and extends its sincere congratulations and greetings on the occasion of the blessed Eid al-Fitr. They hope that the next Eid will come to the Palestinian people under better humanitarian conditions, ensuring human dignity, preserving human rights, and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and liberation from Israeli occupation and its racist colonial system, thus ending decades of historical suffering and injustice inflicted on Palestinians.

End

The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd)