International Commission “Hashd”: With the Continuation of Genocide in Gaza, Israel Exploits Its War on Gaza to Judaize the West Bank
Date: August 16, 2024
Press Release
The International Commission “Hashd” condemns the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where settler attacks and colonial annexation operations in the West Bank and Jerusalem are escalating in the ugliest forms of racism and organized state terrorism.
For the eleventh consecutive month, the genocide and Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip continue amid international negligence and complicity in halting the genocide and protecting Palestinians. The Israeli aggression has led to the destruction of 85% of homes, buildings, and facilities in the Gaza Strip, with the occupying state dropping nearly 100,000 tons of explosives and military weapons, many of which are internationally banned. This has resulted in the annihilation and death of 10% of the Gaza Strip’s population to date, with more than 40,000 martyrs, around 15,000 missing persons, and over 92,000 injured, 70% of whom are children and women. The aggression has also claimed the lives of 500 health workers, 205 UNRWA employees, 168 journalists, 143 lawyers and human rights activists, and 89 civil defense workers.
Health estimates indicate that more than 5,000 citizens have died due to famine, disease, lack of treatment, and psychological stress. In addition, more than 13,000 prisoners have been detained, with 6,500 still in the occupation’s prisons facing torture, abuse, rape, and denial of all rights. Around 95% of Gaza’s population is forcibly displaced due to repeated forced displacement orders by the Israeli occupation forces, land incursions, continuous bombardments of citizens’ homes, shelters, and displacement tents, and committing massacres. The residents of Gaza are living through continuous catastrophe and human hell due to the destruction of all humanitarian service facilities and the use of starvation by the occupation forces, including collective punishment, cutting off electricity and water, and obstructing the entry of humanitarian aid and medical supplies. This has led to severe famine, especially in northern Gaza, and thirst due to water shortages caused by the destruction of over 700 wells and water tanks, and hindrance of fuel entry to operate water and sewage treatment plants. The spread of diseases and epidemics, particularly smallpox, meningitis, polio, and hepatitis, is exacerbated by the ban on cleaning materials, destruction of sewage treatment plants, and accumulation of thousands of tons of garbage that the occupation forces prevent from being transported to landfills since the beginning of the Israeli aggression. Additionally, the evacuation of critical cases for treatment outside Gaza is hindered by the closure of the Rafah crossing for the fourth consecutive month, affecting 25,000 injured individuals and around 10,000 cancer patients who need to travel due to the destruction of hospitals, drug shortages, and the collapse of the health sector, which continues to deepen the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.
The International Commission “Hashd” strongly condemns the attack by more than 100 masked settler militias on the village of Jayyous in Qalqilya governorate in the West Bank, under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, resulting in the martyrdom of a citizen, injuries to dozens, and the burning of dozens of homes and vehicles in the village. The crimes of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank have led to the killing of approximately 620 citizens, injuring over 6,000 others, and the arrest of 9,780 people. Hundreds of residential units have been destroyed due to incursions into cities and camps, especially in northern West Bank. The rate of settler militia attacks on citizens and their property in the West Bank has risen to over 1,120 incidents, including shootings, killings, injuries, burning of homes and vehicles, destruction of property and crops, theft of livestock, establishment of over 77 settlement outposts, and the creation of more than 33,000 settlement units, along with the displacement of Bedouin communities and land confiscation. Furthermore, the annexation of settlement blocs to the occupation state and the repeated incursions of extremist settlers, ministers, and Knesset members into the Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Talmudic prayers and prevent worshippers from entering the mosque aim to impose Israeli sovereignty over Al-Aqsa and deepen the Judaization of the sacred city, in clear violation of international humanitarian law and relevant UN resolutions. This confirms the Israeli government’s ongoing plans to resolve the conflict through ethnic cleansing, field killings, arrests, colonial settlement, creeping annexation of the West Bank, and Judaization of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.
The International Commission “Hashd,” in light of the Israeli state’s disregard for UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice’s measures, including its advisory opinion calling for the end of the Israeli occupation, dismantling settlements and apartheid systems, and protecting and compensating Palestinians, calls on the international community to end its policy of evasion, double standards, and selective enforcement of international law. It demands that all diplomatic, legal, and economic measures be taken to compel Israel to cease its aggression against Palestinians and the genocide in Gaza, ensure the opening of humanitarian corridors, the flow of humanitarian aid and medical supplies, and provide international protection for Palestinians and the remaining occupied Palestinian territories, leading to the end of the Israeli occupation and the dismantling of the racist colonial settlement system.
