Today marks a year since the start of Israel’s genocidal offensive in Gaza, following Hamas’ atrocious attack on southern Israel in which over 1,200 people, many of them civilians, were killed. Since then, Israel has massacred at least 41,802 and injured 96,844, while displacing 90 percent of Gaza’s population. Over 100 Israeli hostages remain captive in Gaza, while Israel continues to arbitrarily detain 6800 Palestinians, often in administrative detention for indefinite periods of time, subjecting many to torture and inhumane treatment.
The international community’s failure to secure a ceasefire and hold Israeli officials accountable for their mounting crimes has enabled Israel to continue a military assault of unprecedented brutality, setting the region ablaze with violence and destruction. The war is no longer confined to Gaza, as Israel has launched a wave of aerial attacks in Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring 6,352 in less than two weeks, while also bombing Syria, further destabilizing the region. As the war risks igniting broader hostilities, including with Iran, the urgency for international intervention and lasting peace grows ever more critical.
“After a year of ruthless attacks on civilians in Gaza, no words are left to describe this unimaginable horror. Every plea to end the bloodshed has been repeated time and time again with no effect. Israel has continuously shown it believes it is above the law and much of the international community is turning a blind eye to Israel’s violations, which has allowed it to carry out these atrocities with impunity” says Amna Guellali, Research Director at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS).
In June 2024, CIHRS concluded in a report the presence of extensive direct and circumstantial evidence that Israel’s attacks involve an intent to effectively destroy Palestinians, in line with the legal definition of genocide. At the time of that report, only four months ago, 75 percent of Palestinians in Gaza were displaced. Today, this number is over 90 percent, with 86 percent of Gazans still living under unlawful and inhuman Israeli evacuation orders.
In the past year, and as of 2 October 2024, more than 11,355 children were killed in Gaza, not counting the thousands under rubble. At least 9 out of 10 people across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, many repeatedly and some more than 10 times. 19 out of 36 hospitals are out of service affecting access to health of two million people. Due to Israel’s attacks on civilian infrastructure and croplands, as well as its obstruction of humanitarian aid delivery, and closure of border crossings, over 95 percent of Gazans are projected to face critical or worsening levels of food insecurity, with over 495,000 facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) repeatedly ordering Israel to ensure unobstructed delivery of aid in the past year, Israel has continued to impede or deny humanitarian missions, including 101 missions between March and August 2024. Incoming truckloads into Gaza have drastically reduced, with an average of 94 trucks per day for the past year, compared to 500 truckloads per day before October 2023. The International Criminal Court (ICC) was met with threats and intimidation, notably from US senators and Israel, when its Prosecutor attempted to hold accountable those responsible for international crimes committed since 7 October. In May 2024, the ICC Prosecutor applied to the Court judges for arrest warrants for these crimes, which are yet to be granted, against two Israeli officials and three Hamas leaders, two of the latte whom were subsequently killed by Israel in targeted assassinations.
The international community’s indifference to Israel’s grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws has allowed Israel to extend its atrocities into the West Bank. Israel’s violent occupation and backing of settler violence has conspicuously intensified since 7 October, with Israeli settlers and forces killing 441 Palestinians with live ammunition, while Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 104 Palestinians to date. On 27 August, Israel launched a 10-day operation in the West Bank, killing 36 Palestinians, including eight children.
As of 23 September, the war has taken a regional turn, when Israel launched what it called “Operation Northern Arrows”, targeting Hezbollah strongholds simultaneously in the southern and eastern regions of the country, as well as southern suburbs of Beirut. On that day alone, Israeli strikes killed nearly 600 people, including 50 children and 94 women, while injuring over 1,800 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. In the following days, the death toll continued to rise, reaching over a thousand deaths and over 2,300 injuries. Israel conducted other attacks, including in Yemen where four civilians were reportedly killed, as well as in Syria.
On 19 July, the ICJ ruled that states must abstain from economic, trade or diplomatic relations with Israel that may entrench its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
While many states have expressed outrage or criticism at Israel’s operations in Gaza or the West Bank, many of these and others have continued to conduct bilateral military trade with Israel. The United States, Israel’s key ally, has publicly and repeatedly called on Israel to minimize civilian harm and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, all while continuing to fund these violations through supporting Israel with military aid and weapons, in contradiction to its obligations under international law. In August 2024, the United States reportedly approved an additional $20 billion sale to Israel, in fighter jets and other military equipment.
This hypocrisy extends to Arab States as well, who are still coordinating military activities with Israel. In June 2024, a high-level meeting took place in Bahrain involving the defense chiefs of five countries, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, and Bahrain, along with the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The discussions centered on regional security cooperation all the while Israel was bombing and killing in Gaza.
We call the international community, and Arab States and Israel’s allies in particular, to:
- Take steps to enforce an immediate and permanent ceasefire to the war on Gaza and the broader regional armed conflict.
- Enforce the ICJ’s decision to end Israeli’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, dismantle its apartheid system against the Palestinians, and seize all operations of annexation in the West Bank.
- Condemn Israel’s grave violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as the indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against the civilian population in Lebanon.
- Immediately cease any and all support to Israel that may contribute to its atrocities against civilians and its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This includes adopting effective sanctions against Israel such as halting trade contributing to Israel’s commission of such violations and holding accountable individuals responsible for international crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
- Call for the release of Israeli civilian hostages as well as Palestinian civilians arbitrarily detained in Israel.
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