The UN Commission of Inquiry for the Occupied Palestinian Territories indicated this Monday that it began collecting evidence on war crimes committed by Hamas, other Palestinian armed groups and Israeli security forces, since October 7.
“The atrocities we have witnessed since that day [quando o Hamas atacou Israel] add unprecedented urgency to our conclusions and recommendations,” Commission President Navy Pillay, who was United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, said in a statement.
The South African jurist added that, in light of recent events, “civilians and civilian facilities must always be protected, they are never a legitimate target and all parties must fulfill their obligation to protect them in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
Pillay made the remarks while publishing a commission report on human rights violations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which does not address the most recent developments (includes the period from May 2021 to August 2023), but which, according to the jurist, “shows that the only way to end violence is through respect for international law.”
“This requires addressing the root causes of the conflict, including the occupation of Palestinian territory, and allowing this population to exercise their right to self-determination,” the commission president added.
The report concludes that all parties to the conflict, including Israel, the Palestinian National Authority and the “de facto government in Gaza”, refused to take preventive measures to avoid civilian casualties in two years of violence, exacerbating the crisis and “deepening divisions and hatred.
It also adds that the launching of rockets and mortars by Palestinian armed groups against areas inhabited by civilians constitutes a war crime, although it also considers Israel’s “disproportionate” response to the attacks as such.
Furthermore, blocking the entry of food and medical products into Gaza is a “violation of international humanitarian law,” the report adds.
It also highlights that Israeli security operations in Gaza and its incursions into that Palestinian territory “seek to weaken opposition to the occupation, fragment Palestinian political cohesion and, in the long term, prevent the establishment of a free Palestinian State.”
The report denounces the repression – often lethal – of Palestinian demonstrations by Israeli forces in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as attacks and arrests with disproportionate use of force, such as those organized this year in the Palestinian city of Jenin.
The commission addressed the 2022 murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the report, concluding that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli forces used unjustified lethal force” and that teams from Duvdevan, the elite unit of Israeli forces, were involved. in the operation.
The document calls on Israel to ensure impartial, independent and thorough investigations into possible human rights violations in Gaza, and on the Hamas government in Gaza to cease attacks on civilian targets.
It also recommends that the International Criminal Court prioritize investigations into the situation in Palestine, “including the identification of those responsible for the murder of Abu Akleh and other cases.”
Source: TSF
