The Arab Council Foundation, in cooperation with 48 international organizations

We write to you while body parts of children, women, and the elderly are scattered in the streets of the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli bombing that has been taking place for three weeks in a raw, and has claimed the lives of more than 8,000 innocent Palestinian civilians, including more than 3,300 children, and injured 20,000, many of whom sustained serious injuries amid lack of medical services. Furthermore, health institutions in Gaza estimate that about 10,000 people have been buried under the rubble of residential buildings.

On 17 October 2023, the Israeli occupation war machine bombed the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, killing at least 500 civilians, most of whom were children, women, and elderly people. The hospital was targeted following an Israeli warning to evacuate the hospitals of Gaza.

It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time the Israeli occupation to targeted hospitals. It is an Israeli systematic policy to bombard hospitals in Gaza on a daily basis, as is the case with Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital. As a result, 57 health institutions and more than 25 ambulances have been destroyed, in addition to the killing and wounding of hundreds of medical staff.

The Israeli occupation has been committing grave violations since the declaration of a comprehensive war by the Israeli occupation army on Gaza, manifested by massive, indiscriminate, and violent bombardments on land, sea, and air throughout the region. Despite the issuance of the General Assembly Emergency Session’s resolution on 27 October 2023, which calls for a humanitarian truce, the occupation launched a ground attack on the Gaza stipe, criticised the international community’s resolution, and refused to abide by it.

You should be aware that the Israeli government has decided to cut off water and electricity supplies to the population, close all border crossings, and prohibit the entry of any humanitarian or medical supplies into the area. This has severely affected the approximately two million people living there, exacerbated by a severe shortage of medical supplies and equipment at hospitals now receiving casualties and fatalities well beyond their capacity.

Documented information confirms that Gaza has become a disaster-stricken region due to Israeli military operations. The violent and brutal airstrikes against the population have destroyed 1,700 residential buildings, towers, and housing complexes during the first two weeks. The number of wholly demolished housing units has risen to more than 7,000, with over 69,000 units partially damaged, including around 4,600 units no longer suitable for habitation.

Today Gaza is completely damaged, with more than a million Palestinian civilians being displaced from their homes, and even the places they sought refuge in, like the hospital, have been targeted in the airstrikes.

What Israel is currently doing was not sudden but rather followed statements from prominent officials in its government, which is repeated daily in a manner confirming the willingness to destroy the Gaza Strip entirely, and force the remainder of its citizens to leave, after killing thousands of them.

– On October 7, 2023, Ghassan Alian, the coordinator of the Israeli government’s activities in the territories, confirmed in an Arabic-language video message to the civilian population, “…the gates of hell have been opened on the Gaza Strip…”

– On October 9, 2023, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced the imposition of a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, declaring that he was fighting “human animals.”

– On the same day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during an announcement of mobilizing 300,000 reserve soldiers, warned that “what we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for many generations.”

Similarly, on October 10, 2023, in a new video in Arabic addressed to the civilian population, the coordinator of government activities in the territories said, “Israel has imposed a complete blockade on Gaza. There will be no electricity or water, and there will be destruction. You wanted hell, and you will get hell.”

From what has been presented, it is evident that Israel is determined to commit severe violations of international humanitarian law without concern for the consequences.

These statements align with a political plan aimed at nullifying any place for the Palestinian people, thereby violating their right to self-determination. Notably, Israeli Minister of Economy Bezalel Smotrich affirmed on 20March 2023, that “there is nothing called Palestinians because there is nothing called the Palestinian people.”

These deliberate policies pursued by the Israeli occupation authorities against Gaza will ultimately lead to the partial or complete destruction of its population, amounting to a deliberate act of genocide against the Palestinian people there, in accordance with Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and Article 6 of the Rome Statute. War crimes and crimes against humanity are also being committed according to the provisions of Article 7 and Article 8 of the Rome Statute.

The absence of accountability and consequences has emboldened the occupying authorities to persist in their extensive violations against the Palestinians. Today, Israel receives encouragement through positions taken by high-level European officials, whether through visits or statements. This is deeply regrettable, as these officials are complicit in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. It’s well known that all these crimes fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

Therefore, we urge you, in line with your responsibilities, to take all necessary actions to compel the Israeli occupying authority to cease its ongoing aggression against Gaza and the Palestinian people as a whole and to require it to halt collective punishments such as cutting electricity and water and blocking the delivery of supplies and humanitarian aid. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court must be urged to initiate an immediate investigation into the crimes of the occupation, and your countries should be called upon to cease all forms of support for the occupation to avoid complicity in the crimes committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Please accept our utmost respect.

Sincerely,

International-Lawyers.Org

International Organisation for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD)

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

Brussels Tribunal

AFDI International

Investigation Organization for Development and Human Rights– Yemen.

SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties

Arab Council Foundation – Geneva

European Palestinian Council for Political Relations- Brussels

American Center for Justice (ACJ)

Association Ma’onah for Human Rights and Immigration

Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR)

Union of Arab Jurists

Association of Victims of Torture – Geneva

Ethiopian Lawyers with Disabilities Association, (ELDA).

Association mondiale des blogueurs – Genève

Advocacy for Human Rights and Justice-Sierra Leone (ADHRJUST-SL)

Alliance international pour les droits et le développement (IAHRD

SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties

The Yemeni Coalition to monitor Human Rights Violations- YCMHRV

Women Journalists Without Chains Organization

Geneva International Centre for Justice.

Advocacy for Human Rights and Justice-Sierra Leone (ADHRJUST-SL)

The National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD)

Assoc of Detainees and The Missing in Southern Syria – The Iraqi Centre for Human Rights

Principle Society for Human Rights

The Bahraini Society of Jurists

International Association of Syrian Jurists in Türkiye

The National Forum for Defending Freedoms Jordan.

ALKARAMA_ Geneva

Al-Marsad Society for Human Rights

Salam for Democracy and Human Rights-London.

Center for My Right for Support the Rights and Freedom

Human Rights Solidarity

Free Voice Organisation for Human Rights

Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue

Egypt Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR)

Justice For Human Rights Solidarité des Organisations d’Appui à la Paix (SOA-P)

Missing Persons Families Group (MPFG)

Worldwide Lawyer Association

ESOHR

Rights Radar for Human Rights.

Association Pont- Genève

Tawasol Organization for Human Rights

Local Development Organization (LDO)

Defense Foundation for Rights and Freedom

Abductees Mothers Association