The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) expresses its absolute condemnation of the widespread brutal attacks launched by the Israeli Occupation Forces against the Gaza Strip. These attacks have now entered their eleventh day. As of the evening of July 16, at least 210 people had been killed as a result of these attacks, 153 of whom were civilians, including 37 children and 28 women. Over 1,350 residents of Gaza had also been injured and thousands forcibly displaced by these attacks. At least 379 homes have been completely destroyed and over 1,600 homes partially destroyed. In addition, missile strikes have destroyed dozens of schools, mosques, hospitals, and charity foundations.
CIHRS asserts that the Israeli military operations which have been increasing since July 7 collectively represent a grave violation of the principles of international humanitarian law. Most of these operations also represent war crimes for which those responsible should be held accountable.
Even as CIHRS affirms the right of the Palestinian people to resist the occupation and to confront – within the framework of respect for the principles of international humanitarian law – the crimes committed by this occupation, it condemns the ways in which some armed resistance groups have subjected civilians within Israel to indiscriminate rocket attacks on some Israeli cities, towns, and civilian establishments.
Nevertheless, CIHRS emphasizes that it is unacceptable to grant political cover to the brutal crimes committed by Israel by claiming that these crimes come in response to arbitrary rocket attacks launched recently from the Gaza Strip to target residential areas in Israel. This is because international humanitarian law completely prohibits endangering civilians and does not grant any parties to an armed conflict the right to impose collective punishment against civilians or to subject them to grave violations in the name of revenge or to deter the other party from committing further abuses. International humanitarian law further prohibits the use of indiscriminate force against civilian targets as well as the use of force which does not meet the conditions of necessity and proportionality.
CIHRS warns that continued escalation and expansion of Israeli military operations to include a ground invasion will have serious repercussions, just as did its brutal aggression against the Gaza Strip in late 2008, which led to the deaths of over 1,400 Palestinians.
CIHRS draws attention to the negligence of the international community regarding the implementation of the recommendations of the UN International Fact Finding Mission, which required that the grave violations committed during the Gaza War in December 2008 to be referred to the International Criminal Court. This negligence has given the green light to Israel to continue committing war crimes, secure that it is acting in an atmosphere of systematic impunity. It is Palestinian civilians who pay the price for this on an almost daily basis.
CIHRS calls on the international community to urgently move to put an immediate stop to these military operations and to ensure protection for Palestinian civilians according to international law. CIHRS further emphasizes the necessity of forming an international fact finding mission to investigate the alleged war crimes committed against civilians in the Gaza Strip. CIHRS calls on the various states party to the Fourth Geneva Convention to uphold their treaty obligations of apprehending and prosecuting those accused of grave violations against civilians, whether within the occupied Palestinian territories or within Israeli borders.
Finally, CIHRS reaffirms that putting an end to the tragic situation experienced by the Palestinian population as well as ending acts which may terrorize civilians within Israel will require effective political action by the international community. Such action must aim to achieve a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which guarantees Palestinians’ non-derogable rights and puts an end to Israeli settlement policies which aim to change the demographics of the occupied territories such that an independent Palestinian state would be rendered unviable.
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