Today, on International Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People, Al-Haq highlights the serious deterioration of the situation in Gaza –– 44,330 Palestinians have been killed over thirteen months, in conditions described as “sheer hell”, with “[n]o end in sight to ‘horror’”. Mass atrocity attacks killing entire families of mostly children continue daily. Palestinians are being starved to death –– thousands gather stampeding for desperately needed food. Israel is carrying out an aggravated version of the General’s Plan in north Gaza, placing the entire area under evacuation orders, completely destroying and levelling the territory, creating a man-made famine, killing Palestinians as they attempt to flee under fire or find shelter from the constant shelling, targeting the last water supplies, and preventing the entry and distribution of life-saving aid. Israel’s Minister for Housing and Construction plans to settle the territory, to complete international silence and inaction. This comes alongside steps taken by the Israeli government to prevent Palestinians from returning to north Gaza –– a permanent and irreversible conquest of territory is being executed, all remaining Palestinians are being destroyed, “rapidly exhausting all available means for their survival”.
International Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People was established in 1977 by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 32/40 B, which called for its observance each year on 29 November, the day Resolution 181 (II) on the partition of Palestine was adopted. International Days are advocacy tools used “to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilise political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity.”
Since 7 October 2023, 1.9 million Gazans have been forcibly and permanently displaced. With 87 percent of housing units having been destroyed or damaged, countless families have been made homeless. Thousands of tents housing the displaced have been washed away in violent winter storms –– the few remaining shelters available to Palestinians offer little space, with only 1.5 m2 of room available per person, much below the international standard of 3.5 m2 per person. In February 2024, Al-Haq documented the tremendous hardships faced by forcibly displaced Palestinian families –– “Last night it was colder than zero degrees. The children suffered greatly. We can’t find any clothes or blankets. We put our children on our laps and hold them to warm them up”. The few remaining hospitals in Gaza that are still functioning are overcrowded due to the critically high number of Palestinians wounded and maimed by the Israeli Occupying Forces –– a staggering 104,933 Palestinians have been injured over 13 months..
Already in November 2023, the World Health Organisation warned against “very concerning” disease trends as “intense overcrowding and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems pose an added danger: the rapid spread of infectious disease”. On 24 May, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) emphasised that “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which as stated in its Order of 26 January 2024, was at serious risk of deterioration, has deteriorated, and has done so even further since the Court adopted its Order of 28 March 2024”. Now, nine in 10 children under the age of five are affected by one or more infectious diseases, and 25 percent of women are experiencing skin conditions and other health issues. Over 11,000 cases of acute respiratory infections were reported in the space of just one week in early November 2024.
Israel passed legislation on 28 October 2024, to prevent the main humanitarian organisation in Gaza, the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) “from operating any representation, providing any services, or conducting any activities in what is referred to as “the sovereign territory of the State of Israel”. A decision condemned by UNICEF as “deadly” for children in Gaza.
Israel continues to issue unlawful evacuation orders. As Al-Haq has previously demonstrated, such orders put Palestinians “in grave danger” and amount to the war crime and crime against humanity of forcible transfer. Moreover, the process of condensing the Palestinian civilian population into tiny slivers of territory in unbearable conditions constitutes the genocidal act of “deliberately inflicting on the [Palestinian people] conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”. Palestinians displaced to Israeli-designated “safe zones” are also targeted with greater effect as the IOF subsequently bombs these densely populated areas with heavy weapons.
On 24 May 2024, the ICJ instructed Israel to “[i]mmediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate”. Another 8,530 Palestinians have been killed since, and Israel has now commenced the final stage of its genocide in the North. With that in mind, one might wonder whether there is still a sense of “humanity” shared by Third States? If so, how can this genocide continue unabated?
The international community has more evidence, judicial rulings, and expert opinions than it could ever need to intervene. We call on all Third States and the international community:
- To protect Palestinians from Israel’s genocide by imposing a two-way arms embargo and economic sanctions on Israel, ensuring unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza at scale, to protect and ensure the continuation of UNRWA, and work to conclude an immediate and lasting ceasefire;
- To fully implement the recommendations in the Palestine Advisory Opinion and General Assembly resolution A/ES-10/L.31/Rev.1 and to address the root causes, taking concrete actions to ensure the dismantling of Israel’s racist settler colonial apartheid regime and guarantee return of refugees;
- To fulfil their erga omnes obligations under the Genocide Convention and use all legal avenues available to hold Israel accountable. States must intervene in South Africa’s case at the ICJ, including through requests for Provisional Measures to prevent Israel’s continuing, worsening and aggravated acts of genocide;
- We call on all States to comply with the ICC arrest warrants issued for Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Minister of Defence, Gallant;
- Finally, we call on the United Nations Commission of Inquiry to specifically investigate Israel’s settler colonial apartheid regime since 1948 and its continuing genocidal acts intended to destroy the Palestinian people.