“Israel” must face the consequences of its campaign to undermine the legal framework for the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, a group of independent human rights experts said in a statement on Monday.
The UN experts said that rather than abiding by the binding rules of international humanitarian law on the protection of civilian objects, “Israel has openly defied it time and again, inflicting maximum suffering on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond.”
Citing Israel’s most egregious violations, the experts highlighted crimes against humanity including murder, torture, sexual violence, and repeated forced displacement amounting to forcible transfer, war crimes encompassing indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, including objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population and educational institutions and cultural heritage, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, the targeting of healthcare workers and health facilities, attacks on humanitarian workers, arbitrary restrictions on access to humanitarian aid, and attacks on journalists, collective punishment and perfidy.
“Political and judicial actors must consider the totality of such acts against the entire civilian population under Israeli occupation, who are protected persons and do not constitute military objectives under international law,” the experts said. “Acts aimed at their destruction in whole or in part are genocidal.”
The experts were particularly alarmed over events in northern Gaza, where they said Israel had grievously violated its obligations as an Occupying Power.
“Indiscriminate attacks, including on shelters for displaced persons and the Kamal Adwan Hospital and its vicinity, and the intensification of siege conditions on northern Gaza for the last three months run contrary to Israel’s legal duty to ensure the protection of the civilian population,” the experts said. “We are disturbed that this siege, coupled with expanding evacuation orders, appears intended to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza’s annexation in further violation of international law.”
