REPORT-"GAZA: ONE YEAR OF ISRAELI GENOCIDE’

On 7 October 2023, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor published a comprehensive report commemorating one year since Israel launched its genocidal campaign against civilians in the Gaza Strip. During this period, Israel committed serious war crimes, with the clear complicity of the international community.

Titled De Gaza: A Year of Israel's Genocide and the Collapse of World Order, report details the major crimes committed over the past 12 months, thoroughly documented by Euro-Med field teams. It traces the distinct elements of the genocide committed by the Israeli army, examines the legal framework that defines the crime of genocide, and analyses both the context and current circumstances. The report also addresses the response of international justice and, importantly, the complicity of the global community in the continuation of the genocide.

The report sheds light on the appalling conditions Israel has created and the systematic atrocities Israel is committing in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a particular focus on the Gaza Strip. These long-standing crimes include the illegal blockade, the deliberate isolation of the Gaza Strip from the rest of the Palestinian territory and the world, the systematic deprivation of the Strip's residents of basic human rights and the deliberate destruction of basic services.

Since the beginning of the Gaza genocide, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army, including some 42,000 registered by the Gaza Ministry of Health, most of whom were women and children. In addition, around 100,000 have been wounded and thousands of bodies still lie under rubble and in the streets where rescue and medical teams cannot reach them.

An estimated 10 per cent of Gaza's population has been killed, injured, declared missing or detained as a result of Israeli military attacks.

An estimated 10% of Gaza's population has been killed, injured, declared missing or detained as a result of Israeli military attacks. Of the 50,292 Palestinians killed - including those still buried under rubble - 33% were children and 21% were women. Thousands of others were forcibly detained and 3,600 are still suffering in various Israeli prisons and detention centres.

Since October 2023, around 3,500 families have suffered multiple losses. Of these, 365 families have lost more than ten members and more than 2,750 families have lost at least three members.

The report details systematic acts of genocide committed in the Gaza Strip, such as the targeted killing of civilians in homes, shelters, displacement camps and areas declared as humanitarian. Civilians were also killed by military vehicles and tanks, in field executions, as a result of drone attacks, in crowded markets and even while waiting for aid in humanitarian trucks.

The report highlights the starvation tactics used by the Israeli military, the targeted killing of prisoners and detainees, and the murder of humanitarian workers, skilled professionals and Palestinian elites.

The Israeli army uses overt methods to inflict serious physical and psychological trauma on the population. These include carrying out thousands of systematic military attacks on the civilian population, dramatically increasing deaths among people of childbearing age, separating families, attacking the health system and imposing brutal living conditions characterised by hunger and malnutrition.

Utrudnianie pomocy humanitarnej jeszcze bardziej zaostrza te okrucieństwa, stwarzając sytuacje zagrażające życiu tysięcy ludzi.

The root cause of this persecution - the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967. - has created the conditions for an ongoing genocide, as confirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 on the konsekwencji prawnych wynikających z izraelskiej polityki i praktyk na okupowanym terytorium palestyńskim.

Both the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are internationally recognised as Palestinian territories that came under occupation in 1967.

Until 2005, the Israeli occupation army maintained internal and external control over the Gaza Strip by stationing military forces inside and outside the Strip, establishing settlements within the Strip, as we still see today in the West Bank.

In 2005, Israel announced a unilateral ‘disengagement’, evacuating its settlers from Gaza and withdrawing its military forces. However, despite this declaration, Israel continued to exercise control over Gaza, maintaining de facto authority over critical aspects of governance. The ICJ upheld this position in a recent advisory opinion, reflecting an almost universal international consensus on Israel's continued occupation.

Even after the troop withdrawal, Israel retained control over the basic elements of Gaza governance, including the population register, the borders (land, sea and air) and the regulation of the movement of both people and goods. Israel continued to collect taxes on imports and exports and maintained control over the buffer zone.

Following the 7 October 2023 attack, Israel declared a state of war, with their president, prime minister and other political and military leaders in charge. The stated aim was to eliminate Hamas, free the hostages and restore security. Thus began operation Iron Swords, brutal military offensive that has increased the suffering of civilians in Gaza.

Euro-Med Monitor summarised the year of genocide in Gaza with a set of recommendations, stressing that all states, both individually and collectively, remain obliged to work to stop the ongoing genocide by all available means. Preventing and punishing this crime, is an international legal obligation incumbent on all states without exception and it is an absolute responsibility to all.

Euro-Med Monitor calls for a total arms embargo on Israel, the termination of all licences and contracts related to the import and export of arms (including dual-use materials and technology that could be used against the Palestinians) and the end of all military and intelligence cooperation.

In addition to the imposition of travel restrictions and the freezing of Israeli government assets, Euro-Med Monitor is calling for political and economic sanctions against Israel and countries cooperating with it. These measures are intended to pressure the responsible parties to comply with international law, ensure that crimes against Palestinians are not repeated and that the victims of these atrocities are compensated.

The organisation also calls for an end to all forms of support for Israel in relation to its genocide and other crimes against Palestinians. This includes halting investments, cancelling or suspending political, diplomatic, economic, commercial and academic ties, and limiting support from the media, legal and other sectors that may contribute to the continuation of these crimes.

Key measures include ensuring the complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from the Gaza Strip, dismantling all military installations, barricades and checkpoints, ending imposed military and geographical divisions, restoring the geographical unity of the Strip and guaranteeing the safe and speedy return of forcibly displaced people to their homes. Furthermore, the recommendations call for the protection of freedom of movement, travel and entry for all Gaza citizens.

This article is a translation of a Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor article, which you can read here