ICSPR condemns tightening the siege on the Gaza Strip

Press release,

ICSPR condemns tightening the siege on the Gaza Strip

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights “ICSPR” condemns and denounces tightening the suffocating and illegal siege on the Gaza Strip for nearly 14 years in a row, in the wake of its recent aggression against civilians during the past few days, which resulted in the martyrdom of 255 civilians, including 69 children, 39 women, 21 elderly people, 2 doctors and 7 persons with disabilities, in addition to injuring 1948 others and the widespread destruction of civilian properties and facilities, and government headquarters and infrastructure.

ICSPR warns of the catastrophic repercussions of tightening the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, especially as it comes at a time when all vital sectors witnessed a catastrophic collapse as a result of the siege, the recent aggression and the outbreak of the Coronavirus. ICSPR fears the catastrophic consequences of tightening the siege, with regard to: Preventing the supply of hundreds of basic needs, especially medical devices and supplies and medicines, including the continued prevention of critically ill patients from leaving the Gaza Strip to receive their treatment abroad. The entry of building materials in light of the extensive destruction caused by the aggression. The entry of fuel needed to operate the only power plant in the Gaza Strip, which has led to the suspension of vital and basic services and sectors, whether with regard to the crisis of drinking water supplies, or with regard to pumping untreated sewage into the sea, which will unbearably deepen the severity of other humanitarian and living crises, in violation and a new crime of collective punishment. Therefore:

1. ICSPR renews its strong condemnation of the continuation of the strict siege, which constitutes a grave violation that amounts to a war crime, as it affects various aspects of the lives of civilians, and exacerbates the deterioration of their humanitarian conditions.

2. ICSPR calls on the international community and its various organizations to condemn the continuation of the siege and tightening restrictions, and to exert pressure on the occupation authorities in order to end and liquidate their illegal siege, and intervene to ensure the supply of all basic needs to spare Gaza a humanitarian catastrophe and a dangerous deterioration that may affect all aspects of life.

3. ICSPR calls on the international community to pressure the occupation to ensure respect for the rights of the Palestinians to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy, including working to accelerate the pace of reconstruction, by providing the necessary funds, and pledges to prevent the occupation from targeting civilian properties and facilities, in accordance with the provisions of international law.

4. ICSPR calls on the Palestinian Authority to work with and next to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to ensure the opening of an international investigation into the Israeli occupation’s commission of war crimes, crimes of collective punishment and racial discrimination against the Palestinian population inside the occupied territories.

ICSPR