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”The Israeli government’s plan to remove troops and Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip would not end Israel’s occupation of the territory. As an occupying power, Israel will retain responsibility for the welfare of Gaza’s civilian population.

Under the “disengagement” plan endorsed Tuesday by the Knesset, Israeli forces will keep control over Gaza’s borders, coastline and airspace, and will reserve the right to launch incursions at will. Israel will continue to wield overwhelming power over the territory’s economy and its access to trade.”

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

ISRAEL: ”DISENGAGEMENT” WILL NOT

END GAZA OCCUPATION

28 OCTOBER 2004

https://www.hrw.org/news/2004/10/28/israel-disengagement-will-not-end-gaza-occupation

Israeli Government Still Holds Responsibility for Welfare of Civilians

The Israeli government’s plan to remove troops and Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip would not end Israel’s occupation of the territory. As an occupying power, Israel will retain responsibility for the welfare of Gaza’s civilian population.

Under the “disengagement” plan endorsed Tuesday by the Knesset, Israeli forces will keep control over Gaza’s borders, coastline and airspace, and will reserve the right to launch incursions at will. Israel will continue to wield overwhelming power over the territory’s economy and its access to trade.

“The removal of settlers and most military forces will not end Israel’s control over Gaza,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division. “Israel plans to reconfigure its occupation of the territory, but it will remain an occupying power with responsibility for the welfare of the civilian population.”

Under the plan, Israel is scheduled to remove settlers and military bases protecting the settlers from the Gaza Strip and four isolated West Bank Jewish settlements by the end of 2005. The Israeli military will remain deployed on Gaza’s southern border, and will reposition its forces to other areas just outside the territory.

In addition to controlling the borders, coastline and airspace, Israel will continue to control Gaza’s telecommunications, water, electricity and sewage networks, as well as the flow of people and goods into and out of the territory. Gaza will also continue to use Israeli currency.

A World Bank study on the economic effects of the plan determined that “disengagement” would ease restrictions on mobility inside Gaza. But the study also warned that the removal of troops and settlers would have little positive effect unless accompanied by an opening of Gaza’s borders. If the borders are sealed to labor and trade, the plan “would create worse hardship than is seen today.”

The plan also explicitly envisions continued home demolitions by the Israeli military to expand the “buffer zone” along the Gaza-Egypt border. According to a report released last week by Human Rights Watch, the Israeli military has illegally razed nearly 1,600 homes since 2000 to create this buffer zone, displacing some 16,000 Palestinians. Israeli officials have called for the buffer zone to be doubled, which would result in the destruction of one-third of the Rafah refugee camp.

In addition, the plan states that disengagement “will serve to dispel the claims regarding Israel’s responsibility for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” A report by legal experts from the Israeli Justice Ministry, Foreign Ministry and the military made public on Sunday, however, reportedly acknowledges that disengagement “does not necessarily exempt Israel from responsibility in the evacuated territories.”

If Israel removes its troops from Gaza, the Palestinian National Authority will maintain responsibility for security within the territory—to the extent that Israel allows Palestinian police the authority and capacity. Palestinian security forces will still have a duty to protect civilians within Gaza and to prevent indiscriminate attacks on Israeli civilians.

“Under international law, the test for determining whether an occupation exists is effective control by a hostile army, not the positioning of troops,” Whitson said. “Whether the Israeli army is inside Gaza or redeployed around its periphery and restricting entrance and exit, it remains in control.”

Under international law, the duties of an occupying power are detailed in the Fourth Geneva Convention and The Hague Regulations. According to The Hague Regulations, a “territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.”

The “disengagement plan,” as adopted by the Israeli Cabinet on June 6, 2004, and endorsed by the Knesset on October 26, is available at:

http://www.pmo.gov.il/nr/exeres/C5E1ACE3-9834-414E-9512-8E5F509E9A4D.htm.

EINDE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH STATEMENT

NIEUW BERICHT

Israel’s Obligations to Gaza under International Law

Israeli authorities claim “broad powers and discretion to decide who may enter its territory” and that “a foreigner has no legal right to enter the State’s sovereign territory, including for the purposes of transit into the [West Bank] or aboard.” While international human rights law gives wide latitude to governments with regard to entry of foreigners, Israel has heightened obligations toward Gaza residents. Because of the continuing controls Israel exercises over the lives and welfare of Gaza’s inhabitants, Israel remains an occupying power under international humanitarian law, despite withdrawing its military forces and settlements from the territory in 2005”

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

GAZA: ISRAEL’S ”OPEN AIR PRISON” AT 15

14 JUNE 2022

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/14/gaza-israels-open-air-prison-15
(Gaza) – Israel’s sweeping restrictions on leaving Gaza deprive its more than two million residents of opportunities to better their lives, Human Rights Watch said today on the fifteenth anniversary of the 2007 closure. The closure has devastated the economy in Gaza, contributed to fragmentation of the Palestinian people, and forms part of Israeli authorities’ crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against millions of Palestinians.

Israel’s closure policy blocks most Gaza residents from going to the West Bank, preventing professionals, artists, athletes, students, and others from pursuing opportunities within Palestine and from traveling abroad via Israel, restricting their rights to work and an education. Restrictive Egyptian policies at its Rafah crossing with Gaza, including unnecessary delays and mistreatment of travelers, have exacerbated the closure’s harm to human rights.

“Israel, with Egypt’s help, has turned Gaza into an open-air prison,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “As many people around the world are once again traveling two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Gaza’s more than two million Palestinians remain under what amounts to a 15-year-old lockdown.”

Israel should end its generalized ban on travel for Gaza residents and permit free movement of people to and from Gaza, subject to, at most, individual screening and physical searches for security purposes.

Between February 2021 and March 2022, Human Rights Watch interviewed 20 Palestinians who sought to travel out of Gaza via either the Israeli-run Erez crossing or the Egyptian-administered Rafah crossing. Human Rights Watch wrote to Israeli and Egyptian authorities to solicit their perspectives on its findings, and separately to seek information about an Egyptian travel company that operates at the Rafah crossing but had received no responses at this writing.

Since 2007, Israeli authorities have, with narrow exceptions, banned Palestinians from leaving through Erez, the passenger crossing from Gaza into Israel, through which they can reach the West Bank and travel abroad via Jordan. Israel also prevents Palestinian authorities from operating an airport or seaport in Gaza. Israeli authorities also sharply restrict the entry and exit of goods.

They often justify the closure, which came after Hamas seized political control over Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in June 2007, on security grounds. Israeli authorities have said they want to minimize travel between Gaza and the West Bank to prevent the export of “a human terrorist network” from Gaza to the West Bank, which has a porous border with Israel and where hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live.

This policy has reduced travel to a fraction of what it was two decades ago, Human Rights Watch said. Israeli authorities have instituted a formal “policy of separation” between Gaza and the West Bank, despite international consensus that these two parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory form a “single territorial unit.” Israel accepted that principle in the 1995 Oslo Accords, signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israeli authorities restrict all travel between Gaza and the West Bank, even when the travel takes place via the circuitous route through Egypt and Jordan rather than through Israeli territory.

Due to these policies, Palestinian professionals, students, artists, and athletes living in Gaza have missed vital opportunities for advancement not available in Gaza. Human Rights Watch interviewed seven people who said that Israeli authorities did not respond to their requests for travel through Erez, and three others who said Israel rejected their permits, apparently for not fitting within Israeli’s narrow criteria.

Walaa Sada, 31, a filmmaker, said that she applied for permits to take part in film training in the West Bank in 2014 and 2018, after spending years convincing her family to allow her to travel alone, but Israeli authorities never responded to her applications. The hands-on nature of the training, requiring filming live scenes and working in studios, made remote participation impracticable and Sada ended up missing the sessions.

The “world narrowed” when she received these rejections, Sada said, making her feel “stuck in a small box.… For us in Gaza, the hands of the clock stopped. People all over the world can easily and quickly book flight and travel, while we … die waiting for our turn.”

The Egyptian authorities have exacerbated the closure’s impact by restricting movement out of Gaza and at times fully sealing its Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only outlet aside from Erez to the outside world. Since May 2018, Egyptian authorities have been keeping Rafah open more regularly, making it, amid the sweeping Israeli restrictions, the primary outlet to the outside world for Gaza residents.

Palestinians, however, still face onerous obstacles traveling through Egypt, including having to wait weeks for permission to travel, unless they are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to travel companies with significant ties to Egyptian authorities to expedite their travel, denials of entry, and abuse by Egyptian authorities.

Sada said also received an opportunity to participate in a workshop on screenwriting in Tunisia in 2019, but that she could not afford the US$2000 it would cost her to pay for the service that would ensure that she could travel on time. Her turn to travel came up six weeks later, after the workshop had already been held.

As an occupying power that maintains significant control over many aspects of life in Gaza, Israel has obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the welfare of the population there. Palestinians also have the right under international human rights law to freedom of movement, in particular within the occupied territory, a right that Israel can restrict under international law only in response to specific security threats.

Israel’s policy, though, presumptively denies free movement to people in Gaza, with narrow exceptions, irrespective of any individualized assessment of the security risk a person may pose. These restrictions on the right to freedom of movement do not meet the requirement of being strictly necessary and proportionate to achieve a lawful objective. Israel has had years and many opportunities to develop more narrowly tailored responses to security threats that minimize restrictions on rights.

Egypt’s legal obligations toward Gaza residents are more limited, as it is not an occupying power. However, as a state party to the Fourth Geneva Convention, it should ensure respect for the convention “in all circumstances,” including protections for civilians living under military occupation who are unable to travel due to unlawful restrictions imposed by the occupying power. The Egyptian authorities should also consider the impact of their border closure on the rights of Palestinians living in Gaza who are unable to travel in and out of Gaza through another route, including the right to leave a country.

Egyptian authorities should lift unreasonable obstacles that restrict Palestinians’ rights and allow transit via its territory, subject to security considerations, and ensure that their decisions are transparent and not arbitrary and take into consideration the human rights of those affected.

“The Gaza closure blocks talented, professional people, with much to give their society, from pursuing opportunities that people elsewhere take for granted,” Shakir said. “Barring Palestinians in Gaza from moving freely within their homeland stunts lives and underscores the cruel reality of apartheid and persecution for millions of Palestinians.”

Israel’s Obligations to Gaza under International Law

Israeli authorities claim “broad powers and discretion to decide who may enter its territory” and that “a foreigner has no legal right to enter the State’s sovereign territory, including for the purposes of transit into the [West Bank] or aboard.” While international human rights law gives wide latitude to governments with regard to entry of foreigners, Israel has heightened obligations toward Gaza residents. Because of the continuing controls Israel exercises over the lives and welfare of Gaza’s inhabitants, Israel remains an occupying power under international humanitarian law, despite withdrawing its military forces and settlements from the territory in 2005. Both the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the guardians of international humanitarian law, have reached this determination. As the occupying power, Israel remains bound to provide residents of Gaza the rights and protections afforded to them by the law of occupation. Israeli authorities continue to control Gaza’s territorial waters and airspace, and the movement of people and goods, except at Gaza’s border with Egypt. Israel also controls the Palestinian population registry and the infrastructure upon which Gaza relies.

Israel has an obligation to respect the human rights of Palestinians living in Gaza, including their right to freedom of movement throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory and abroad, which affects both the right to leave a country and the right to enter their own country. Israel is also obligated to respect Palestinians’ rights for which freedom of movement is a precondition, for example the rights to education, work, and health. The UN Human Rights Committee has said that while states can restrict freedom of movement for security reasons or to protect public health, public order, and the rights of others, any such restrictions must be proportional and “the restrictions must not impair the essence of the right; the relation between the right and restriction, between norm and exception, must not be reversed.”

While the law of occupation permits occupying powers to impose security restrictions on civilians, it also requires them to restore public life for the occupied population. That obligation increases in a prolonged occupation, in which the occupier has more time and opportunity to develop more narrowly tailored responses to security threats that minimize restrictions on rights. In addition, the needs of the occupied population increase over time. Suspending virtually all freedom of movement for a short period interrupts temporarily normal public life, but long-term, indefinite suspension in Gaza has had a much more debilitating impact, fragmentating populations, fraying familial and social ties, compounding discrimination against women, and blocking people from pursuing opportunities to improve their lives.

The impact is particularly damaging given the denial of freedom of movement to people who are confined to a sliver of the occupied territory, unable to interact in person with the majority of the occupied population that lives in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and its rich assortment of educational, cultural, religious, and commercial institutions.

After 55 years of occupation and 15 years of closure in Gaza with no end in sight, Israel should fully respect the human rights of Palestinians, using as a benchmark the rights it grants Israeli citizens. Israel should abandon an approach that bars movement absent exceptional individual humanitarian circumstances it defines, in favor of an approach that permits free movement absent exceptional individual security circumstances.

Israel’s Closure

Most Palestinians who grew up in Gaza under this closure have never left the 40-by-11 kilometer (25-by-7 mile) Gaza Strip. For the last 25 years, Israel has increasingly restricted the movement of Gaza residents. Since June 2007, when Hamas seized control over Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA), Gaza has been mostly closed.

Israeli authorities justify this closure on security grounds, in light of “Hamas’ rise to power in the Gaza Strip,” as they lay out in a December 2019 court filing. Authorities highlight in particular the risk that Hamas and armed Palestinian groups will recruit or coerce Gaza residents who have permits to travel via Erez “for the commission of terrorist acts and the transfer of operatives, knowledge, intelligence, funds or equipment for terrorist activists.” Their policy, though, amounts to a blanket denial with rare exceptions, rather than a generalized respect for the right of Palestinians to freedom of movement, to be denied only on the basis of individualized security reasons.

The Israeli army has since 2007 limited travel through the Erez crossing except in what it deems “exceptional humanitarian circumstances,” mainly encompassing those needing vital medical treatment outside Gaza and their companions, although the authorities also make exceptions for hundreds of businesspeople and laborers and some others. Israel has restricted movement even for those seeking to travel under these narrow exceptions, affecting their rights to health and life, among others, as Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented. Most Gaza residents do not fit within these exemptions to travel through Erez, even if it is to reach the West Bank.

Between January 2015 and December 2019, before the onset of Covid-19 restrictions, an average of about 373 Palestinians left Gaza via Erez each day, less than 1.5 percent of the daily average of 26,000 in September 2000, before the closure, according to the Israeli rights group Gisha. Israeli authorities tightened the closure further during the Covid-19 pandemic – between March 2020 and December 2021, an average of about 143 Palestinians left Gaza via Erez each day, according to Gisha.

Israeli authorities announced in March 2022 that they would authorize 20,000 permits for Palestinians in Gaza to work in Israel in construction and agriculture, though Gisha reports that the actual number of valid permits in this category stood at 9,424, as of May 22.

Israeli authorities have also for more than two decades sharply restricted the use by Palestinians of Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters. They blocked the reopening of the airport that Israeli forces made inoperable in January 2002, and prevented the Palestinian authorities from building a seaport, leaving Palestinians dependent on leaving Gaza by land to travel abroad. The few Palestinians permitted to cross at Erez are generally barred from traveling abroad via Israel’s international airport and must instead travel abroad via Jordan. Palestinians wishing to leave Gaza via Erez, either to the West Bank or abroad, submit requests through the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee in Gaza, which forwards applications to Israeli authorities who decide on whether to grant a permit.

Separation Between Gaza and the West Bank

As part of the closure, Israeli authorities have sought to “differentiate” between their policy approaches to Gaza and the West Bank, such as imposing more sweeping restrictions on the movement of people and goods from Gaza to the West Bank, and promote separation between these two parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The army’s “Procedure for Settlement in the Gaza Strip by Residents of Judea and Samaria,” published in 2018, states that “in 2006, a decision was made to introduce a policy of separation between the Judea and Samaria Area [the West Bank] and the Gaza Strip in light of Hamas’ rise to power in the Gaza Strip. The policy currently in effect is explicitly aimed at reducing travel between the areas.”

In each of the 11 cases Human Rights Watch reviewed of people seeking to reach the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for professional and educational opportunities not available in Gaza, Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for permits or denied them, either for security reasons or because they did not conform to the closure policy. Human Rights Watch also reviewed permit applications on the website of the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee, or screenshots of it, including the status of the permit applications, when they were sent on to the Israeli authorities and the response received, if any.

Raed Issa, a 42-year-old artist, said that the Israeli authorities did not respond to his application for a permit in early December 2015, to attend an exhibit of his art at a Ramallah art gallery between December 27 and January 16, 2016.

The “Beyond the Dream” exhibit sought to highlight the situation in Gaza after the 2014 war. Issa said that the Palestinian Civil Affairs committee continued to identify the status of his application as “sent and waiting for response” and he ended up having to attend the opening of the exhibit virtually. Issa felt that not being physically present hampered his ability to engage with audiences, and to network and promote his work, which he believes limited his reach and hurt sales of his artwork. He described feeling pained “that I am doing my own art exhibit in my homeland and not able to attend it, not able to move freely.”

Ashraf Sahweel, 47, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Gaza Center for Art and Culture, said that Gaza-based artists routinely do not hear back after applying for Israeli permits, forcing them to miss opportunities to attend exhibitions and other cultural events. A painter himself, he applied for seven permits between 2013 and 2022, but Israeli authorities either did not respond or denied each application, he said. Sahweel said that he has “given up hope on the possibility to travel via Erez.”

Palestinian athletes in Gaza face similar restrictions when seeking to compete with their counterparts in the West Bank, even though the Israeli army guidelines specifically identify “entry of sportspeople” as among the permissible exemptions to the closure. The guidelines, updated in February 2022, set out that “all Gaza Strip residents who are members of the national and local sports teams may enter Israel in transit to the Judea and Samaria area [West Bank] or abroad for official activities of the teams.”

Hilal al-Ghawash, 25, told Human Rights Watch that his football team, Khadamat Rafah, had a match in July 2019 with a rival West Bank team, the Balata Youth Center, in the finals of Palestine Club, with the winner entitled to represent Palestine in the Asian Cup. The Palestinian Football Federation applied for permits for the entire 22-person team and 13-person staff, but Israeli authorities, without explanation, granted permits to only 4 people, only one of whom was a player. The game was postponed as a result.

After Gisha appealed the decision in the Jerusalem District Court, Israeli authorities granted 11 people permits, including six players, saying the other 24 were denied on security grounds that were not specified. Al-Ghawash was among the players who did not receive a permit. The Jerusalem district court upheld the denials. With Khadamat Rafah prevented from reaching the West Bank, the Palestine Football Federation canceled the Palestine Cup finals match.

Al-Ghawash said that West Bank matches hold particular importance for Gaza football players, since they offer the opportunity to showcase their talents for West Bank clubs, which are widely considered superior to those in Gaza and pay better. Despite the cancellation, al-Ghawash said, the Balata Youth Center later that year offered him a contract to play for them. The Palestinian Football Federation again applied for a permit on al-Ghawash’s behalf, but he said he did not receive a response and was unable to join the team.

In 2021, al-Ghawash signed a contract with a different West Bank team, the Hilal al-Quds club. The Palestinian Football Federation again applied, but this time, the Israeli army denied the permit on unspecified security grounds. Al-Ghawash said he does not belong to any armed group or political movement and has no idea on what basis Israeli authorities denied him a permit.

Missing these opportunities has forced al-Ghawash to forgo not only higher pay, but also the chance to play for more competitive West Bank teams, which could have brought him closer to his goal of joining the Palestinian national team. “There’s a future in the West Bank, but, here in Gaza, there’s only a death sentence,” he said. “The closure devastates players’ future. Gaza is full of talented people, but it’s so difficult to leave.”

Palestinian students and professionals are frequently unable to obtain permits to study or train in the West Bank. In 2016, Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem agreed to have 10 physics students from Al-Azhar University in Gaza come to the hospital for a six-month training program. Israeli authorities denied five students permits without providing a rationale, two of the students said.

The five other students initially received permits valid for only 14 days, and then encountered difficulties receiving subsequent permits. None were able to complete the full program, the two students said. One, Mahmoud Dabour, 28, said that when he applied for a second permit, he received no response. Two months later, he applied again and managed to get a permit valid for one week. He received one other permit, valid for 10 days, but then, when he returned and applied for the fifth time, Israeli authorities rejected his permit request without providing a reason. As a result, he could not finish the training program, and, without the certification participants receive upon completion, he said, he cannot apply for jobs or attend conferences or workshops abroad in the field.

Dabour said that the training cannot be offered in Gaza, since the necessary radiation material required expires too quickly for it to be functional after passing through the time-consuming Israeli inspections of materials entering the Gaza Strip. There are no functioning devices of the kind that students need for the training in Gaza, Dabour said.

One of the students whose permit was denied said, “I feel I studied for five years for nothing, that my life has stopped.” The student asked that his name be withheld for his security.

Two employees of Zimam, a Ramallah-based organization focused on youth empowerment and conflict resolution, said that the Israeli authorities repeatedly denied them permits to attend organizational training and strategy meetings. Atta al-Masri, the 31-year-old Gaza regional director, said he has applied four times for permits, but never received one. Israeli authorities did not respond the first three times and, the last time in 2021, denied him a permit on the grounds that it was “not in conformity” with the permissible exemptions to the closure. He has worked for Zimam since 2009, but only met his colleagues in person for the first time in Egypt in March 2022.

Ahed Abdullah, 29, Zimam’s youth programs coordinator in Gaza, said she applied twice for permits in 2021, but Israeli authorities denied both applications on grounds of “nonconformity:”

This is supposed to be my right. My simplest right. Why did they reject me? My colleagues who are outside Palestine managed to make it, while I am inside Palestine, I wasn’t able to go to the other part of Palestine … it’s only 2-3 hours from Gaza to Ramallah, why should I get the training online? Why am I deprived of being with my colleagues and doing activities with them instead of doing them in dull breakout rooms on Zoom?

Human Rights Watch has previously documented that the closure has prevented specialists in the use of assistive devices for people with disabilities from opportunities for hands-on training on the latest methods of evaluation, device maintenance, and rehabilitation. Human Rights Watch also documented restrictions on the movement of human rights workers. Gisha, the Israeli human rights group, has reported that Israel has blocked health workers in Gaza from attending training in the West Bank on how to operate new equipment and hampered the work of civil society organizations operating in Gaza.

Israeli authorities have also made it effectively impossible for Palestinians from Gaza to relocate to the West Bank. Because of Israeli restrictions, thousands of Gaza residents who arrived on temporary permits and now live in the West Bank are unable to gain legal residency. Although Israel claims that these restrictions are related to maintaining security, evidence Human Rights Watch collected suggests the main motivation is to control Palestinian demography across the West Bank, whose land Israel seeks to retain, in contrast to the Gaza Strip.

Egypt

With most Gaza residents unable to travel via Erez, the Egyptian-administered Rafah crossing has become Gaza’s primary outlet to the outside world, particularly in recent years. Egyptian authorities kept Rafah mostly closed for nearly five years following the July 2013 military coup in Egypt that toppled President Mohamed Morsy, whom the military accused of receiving support from Hamas. Egypt, though, eased restrictions in May 2018, amid the Great March of Return, the recurring Palestinian protests at the time near the fences separating Gaza and Israel.

Despite keeping Rafah open more regularly since May 2018, movement via Rafah is a fraction of what it was before the 2013 coup in Egypt. Whereas an average of 40,000 crossed monthly in both directions before the coup, the monthly average was 12,172 in 2019 and 15,077 in 2021, according to Gisha.

Human Rights Watch spoke with 16 Gaza residents who sought to travel via Rafah. Almost all said they opted for this route because of the near impossibility of receiving an Israeli permit to travel via Erez.

Gaza residents hoping to leave via Rafah are required to register in advance via a process the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has deemed “confusing” and “obscure.” Gaza residents can either register via the formal registration process administered by Gaza’s Interior Ministry or informally via what is known as tanseeq, or travel coordination with Egyptian authorities, paying travel companies or mediators for a place on a separate list coordinated by Egyptian authorities. Having two distinct lists of permitted travelers coordinated by different authorities has fueled “allegations of the payment of bribes in Gaza and in Egypt to ensure travel and a faster response,” according to OCHA.

The formal process often takes two to three months, except for those traveling for medical reasons, whose requests are processed faster, said Gaza residents who sought to leave Gaza via Rafah. Egyptian authorities have at times rejected those seeking to cross Rafah into Egypt on the grounds that they did not meet specific criteria for travel. The criteria lack transparency, but Gisha reported that they include having a referral for a medical appointment in Egypt or valid documents to enter a third country.

To avoid the wait and risk of denial, many choose instead the tanseeq route. Several interviewees said that they paid large sums of money to Palestinian brokers or Gaza-based travel companies that work directly with Egyptian authorities to expedite people’s movement via Rafah. On social media, some of these companies advertise that they can assure travel within days to those who provide payment and a copy of their passport. The cost of tanseeq has fluctuated from several hundred US dollars to several thousand dollars over the last decade, based in part on how frequently Rafah is open.

In recent years, travel companies have offered an additional “VIP” tanseeq, which expedites travel without delays in transit between Rafah and Cairo, offers flexibility on travel date, and ensures better treatment by authorities. The cost was $700, as of January 2022.

The Cairo-based company offering the VIP tanseeq services, Hala Consulting and Tourism Services, has strong links with Egypt’s security establishment and is staffed largely by former Egyptian military officers, a human rights activist and a journalist who have investigated these issues told Human Rights Watch. This allows the company to reduce processing times and delays at checkpoints during the journey between Rafah and Cairo. The activist and journalist both asked that their names be withheld for security reasons.

The company is linked to prominent Egyptian businessman Ibrahim El-Argani, who has close ties with Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. Ergany heads the Union of Sinai Tribes, which works hand-in-hand with the Egyptian military and intelligence agencies against militants operating in North Sinai. Ergany, one of Egypt’s few businessmen able to export products to Gaza from Egypt, owns the Sinai Sons company, which has an exclusive contract to handle all contracts related to Gaza reconstruction efforts. Human Rights Watch wrote to El-Argani to solicit his perspectives on these issues, but had received no response at this writing.

A 34-year-old computer engineer and entrepreneur said that he sought to travel in 2019 to Saudi Arabia to meet an investor to discuss a potential project to sell car parts online. He chose not to apply to travel via Erez, as he had applied for permits eight times between 2016 and 2018 and had either been rejected or not heard back.

He initially registered via the formal Ministry of Interior process and received approval to travel after three months. However, on the day assigned for his exit via Rafah, an Egyptian officer there said he found his reason for travel not sufficiently “convincing” and denied him passage. A few months later, he tried to travel again for the same purpose, this time opting for tanseeq and paying $400, and, this time, he successfully reached Saudi Arabia within a week of seeking to travel.

He said that he would like to go on vacation with his wife, but worries that Egyptian authorities will not consider vacation a sufficiently compelling reason for travel and that his only option will be to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to do tanseeq.

A 73-year-old man sought to travel via Rafah in February 2021, with his 46-year-old daughter, to get knee replacement surgery in al-Sheikh Zayed hospital in Cairo. He said Gaza lacks the capacity to provide such an operation. The man and his daughter are relatives of a Human Rights Watch staff member. They applied via the Interior Ministry process and received approval in a little over a week.

After they waited for several hours in the Egyptian hall in Rafah on the day of travel, though, Egyptian authorities included the daughter’s name among the 70 names of people who were not allowed to cross that day, the daughter said. The father showed the border officials a doctor’s note indicating that he needed someone to travel with him given his medical situation, but the officer told him, “You either travel alone or go back with her to Gaza.” She said she returned to Gaza, alongside 70 other people, and her father later traveled on his own.

Five people who did manage to travel via Rafah said that they experienced poor conditions and poor treatment, including intrusive searches, by the Egyptian authorities, with several saying that they felt Egyptian authorities treated them like “criminals.” Several people said that Egyptian officers confiscated items from them during the journey, including an expensive camera and a mobile phone, without apparent reason.

Upon leaving Rafah, Palestinians are transported by bus to Cairo’s airport. The trip takes about seven hours, but several people said that the journey took up to three days between long periods of waiting on the bus, at checkpoints and amid other delays, often in extreme weather. Many of those who traveled via Rafah said that, during this journey, Egyptian authorities prevented passengers from using their phones.

The parents of a 7-year-old boy with autism and a rare brain disease said they sought to travel for medical treatment for him in August 2021, but Egyptian authorities only allowed the boy and his mother to enter. The mother said their journey back to Gaza took four days, mostly as a result of Rafah being closed. During this time, she said, they spent hours waiting at checkpoints, in extreme heat, with her son crying nonstop. She said she felt “humiliated” and treated like “an animal,” observing that she “would rather die than travel again through Rafah.”

A 33-year-old filmmaker, who traveled via Rafah to Morocco in late 2019 to attend a film screening, said the return from Cairo to Rafah took three days, much of it spent at checkpoints amid the cold winter in the Sinai desert.

A 34-year-old man said that he planned to travel in August 2019 via Rafah to the United Arab Emirates for a job interview as an Arabic teacher. He said, on his travel date, Egyptian authorities turned him back, saying they had met their quota of travelers. He crossed the next day, but said that, as it was a Thursday and with Rafah closed on Friday, Egyptian authorities made travelers spend two nights sleeping at Rafah, without providing food or access to a clean bathroom.

The journey to Cairo airport then took two days, during which he described going through checkpoints where officers made passengers “put their hands behind their backs while they searched their suitcases.” As a result of these delays totaling four days since his assigned travel date, he missed his job interview and found out that someone else was hired. He is currently unemployed in Gaza.

Given the uncertainty of crossing at Rafah, Gaza residents said that they often wait to book their flight out of Cairo until they arrive. Booking so late often means, beyond other obstacles, having to wait until they can find a reasonably priced and suitable flight, planning extra days for travel and spending extra money on changeable or last-minute tickets. Similar dynamics prevail with regard to travel abroad via Erez to Amman.

Human Rights Watch interviewed four men under the age of 40 with visas to third countries, whom Egyptian authorities allowed entry only for the purpose of transit. The authorities transported these men to Cairo airport and made them wait in what is referred to as the “deportation room” until their flight time. The men likened the room to a “prison cell,” with limited facilities and unsanitary conditions. All described a system in which bribes are required to be able to leave the room to book a plane ticket, get food, drinks, or a cigarette, and avoid abuse. One of the men described an officer taking him outside the room, asking him, “Won’t you give anything to Egypt?” and said that others in the room told him that he then proceeded to do the same with them

EINDE ARTIKEL

”“Israel has the responsibility as the Occupying Power to protect the civilian population. But instead of allowing a healthy people and economy to flourish, Israeli authorities have sealed off the Gaza Strip”

UNITED NATIONS

COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT IN GAZA MUST END:

ISRAEL’S BLOCKADE ENTERS IN IT’S 7TH YEAR-

UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR

14 JUNE 2013

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2013/06/collective-punishment-gaza-must-end-israels-blockade-enters-its-7th-year-un

GENEVA, 14 June 2013 – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, Richard Falk, called today on Israel to end its blockade over the Gaza Strip, six years after it was tightened following the Hamas takeover in June 2007. The human suffering of the land, sea and air blockade imposed on the 1.75 million Palestinians living in one of the most densely populated and impoverished areas of the world has been devastating.

“Six years of Israel’s calculated strangulation of the Gaza Strip has stunted the economy and has kept most Gazans in a state of perpetual poverty and aid dependency,” said the UN expert. “Whether it is fishermen unable to go beyond six nautical miles from the shore, farmers unable to access their land near the Israeli fence, businessmen suffering from severe restrictions on the export of goods, students denied access to education in the West Bank, or patients in need of urgent medical attention refused access to Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank, the destructive designs of blockade have been felt by every single household in Gaza. It is especially felt by Palestinian families separated by the blockade,” he added.

“The people of Gaza have endured the unendurable and suffered what is insufferable for six years. Israel’s collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza must end today,” said the Special Rapporteur.

“Israel has the responsibility as the Occupying Power to protect the civilian population. But instead of allowing a healthy people and economy to flourish, Israeli authorities have sealed off the Gaza Strip. According to statistics released by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, last month’s exports out of Gaza consisted of 49 truckloads of empty boxes, three truckloads of spices, one truckload of cut flowers, and one truckload of furniture,” he said. In 2012, the total number of truckloads of exports leaving Gaza was 254, compared to 9,787 in 2005 before the tightening of the blockade.

“It does not take an economist to figure out that such a trickle of goods out of Gaza is not the basis of a viable economy,” noted the UN expert. “The easing of the blockade announced by Israel in June 2010 after its deadly assault on the flotilla of ships carrying aid to the besieged population resulted only in an increase in consumer goods entering Gaza, and has not improved living conditions for most Gazans. Since 2007, the productive capacity of Gaza has dwindled with 80 percent of factories in Gaza now closed or operating at half capacity or less due to the loss of export markets and prohibitively high operating costs as a result of the blockade. 34 percent of Gaza’s workforce is unemployed including up to half the youth population, 44 percent of Gazans are food insecure, 80 percent of Gazans are aid recipients,” he said.

“To make matters worse, 90 percent of the water from the Gaza aquifer is unsafe for human consumption without treatment, and severe fuel and electricity shortage results in outages of up to 12 hours a day. Only a small proportion of Gazans who can afford to obtain supplies through the tunnel economy are buffered from the full blow of the blockade, but tunnels alone cannot meet the daily needs of the population in Gaza.”

“Last year, the United Nations forecast that under existing conditions, Gaza would be uninhabitable by 2020. Less optimistic forecasts presented to me were that the Gaza Strip may no longer be viable only three years from now,” said the Special Rapporteur. “It’s clear that the Israeli authorities set out six years ago to devitalize the Gazan population and economy,” he said, referring to a study undertaken by the Israeli Ministry of Defense in early 2008 detailing the minimum number of calories Palestinians in Gaza need to consume on a daily basis to avoid malnutrition. The myriad of restrictions imposed by Israel do not permit civilians in Gaza to develop to their full potential, and enjoy and exercise fully their human rights.

ENDS

In 2008, the UN Human Rights Council designated Richard Falk (United States of America) as the fifth Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. The mandate was originally established in 1993 by the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Learn more, log on to: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/countries/ps/mandate/index.htm

UN Human Rights – Occupied Palestinian Territories: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/MENARegion/Pages/PSIndex.aspx

UN Human Rights – Israel: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/MENARegion/Pages/ILIndex.aspx

For more information and media requests, please contact Kevin Turner (kturner@ohchr.org) or Kiyohiko Hasegawa khasegawa@ohchr.org) or write to sropt@ohchr.org

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Cécile Pouilly, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org)

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”Despite the Israeli disengagement, Gaza is still considered occupied by Israel under international law.[19][20

WIKIPEDIA

GAZA STRIP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip#

”Under the “Disengagement” Plan, Gazans will still be subjected to the effective control of the Israeli military. Although Israel will supposedly remove its permanent military presence, Israeli forces will retain the ability and right to enter the Gaza Strip at will.[28]

Further, Israel will retain control over Gaza’s airspace, sea shore, and borders.[29]  Under the Plan, Israel will unilaterally control whether or not Gaza opens a seaport or an airport. Additionally, Israel will control all border crossings, including Gaza’s border with Egypt.[30]  And Israel will “continue its military activity along the Gaza Strip’s coastline.”[31]  Taken together, these powers mean that all goods and people entering or leaving Gaza will be subject to Israeli control. ”

UNITED NATIONS

THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

 

THE ISRAELI ”DISENGAGEMENT” PLAN”GAZA STILL OCCUPIED

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-205755/

THE ISRAELI “DISENGAGEMENT” PLAN: GAZA STILL OCCUPIED

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2005

“The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process . . . . Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda . . . . All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress.”.”

                                    – Dov Weisglass, Senior Advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

Legal Analysis:

Israel’s “Disengagement” plan from the Gaza Strip states that once fully enacted “there will be no basis to the claim that the Strip is occupied land,”[1] even though the Plan envisages indefinite Israeli military and economic control over the Gaza Strip. over the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s eagerness to declare an end to the Gaza Strip’s occupation illustrates the strategy behind the Plan. First, Israel seeks to proclaim an end to the Gaza Strip’s occupation—ostensibly in order to absolve Israel of all legal responsibilities as an “occupying power”—while simultaneously retaining effective military control over the Gaza Strip and its inhabitants. Second, it hopes to garner international support for retaining and even expanding illegal colonies in the Occupied West Bank in exchange for a withdrawal from Gaza. This strategy’s success was most apparent in the April 14, 2004 Bush-Sharon press conference during which President Bush praised Sharon’s withdrawal plan and announced that “existing Israeli population centers” in Occupied Palestinian Territory would become part of Israel in any permanent status agreement.[2]  Third, as Israeli Bureau Chief Dov Weisglass confessed, Israel hopes to indefinitely freeze the peace process.

Variations of this strategy are not new: during the interim period of the Oslo Accords, Israel similarly carved away Palestinian population centers while retaining control over Palestinian movement, economy, and natural resources. Although Israel maintained effective military control over the evacuated areas (“Area A”)—and was therefore legally bound by its legal obligations as an occupying power—some Israeli government advisors argued that Area A was no longer occupied territory and absolved themselves of all legal responsibility.[3] In public and even some diplomatic discourse the occupation disappeared,

occupied territory became “disputed” territory, and the conflict was no longer one between an occupying power and an occupied population but rather a land dispute between two equal parties.

Notwithstanding the terms of the Plan, Israel will remain an occupying power under international law after disengagement from Gaza and is therefore bound by the obligations of an Occupying Power under international customary law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

This updated legal analysis was originally released in October 2004 and is still accurate today, despite recent developments along the occupied Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt and coordination activities with the Palestinian Authority.

I.    ISRAEL OCCUPIES THE GAZA STRIP

A.   Israel Occupies the Palestinian Territories

The term “occupation” describes a regime of control over territory and population by a foreign sovereign’s military.[4]  When a foreign sovereign occupies land, international law obligates that sovereign to uphold basic standards to protect both the population under its control and the land on which that population lives.[5]

The Hague Regulations of 1907 set forth the basic legal standard: “Territory is occupied when it has actually been placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation only extends to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.”[6] This definition represents customary international law [7] and has been reaffirmed and expounded upon at the Nuremberg Tribunal,[8] in the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) and in its First Additional Protocol (1979),[9] in state practice, in United Nations’ resolutions, and in the judgment of the International Court of Justice.[10]

In June 1967, the Israeli military took control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip (together, the “Palestinian Territories”).[11] Ever since, Israel has maintained actual and effective control over the Palestinian Territories and the indigenous Palestinian population thereon. Consequently, Israel belligerently occupies the Palestinian Territories as a matter of law.

B.   The International Community Recognizes Israel as the Occupying Power of the
Palestinian Territories

Since 1967, the International Community has consistently held that Israel occupies the Palestinian Territories. United Nations Security Council resolution 242 called, in part, for Israel to withdraw from territories it “occupied.”[12]  Since then, the international community—including the United States[13] —has consistently reaffirmed that the territories, including East Jerusalem, are “occupied” as a matter of law. Indeed, both the U.N. Security Council and the General Assembly reiterated in May 2004 that the Palestinian Territories are “occupied” as a matter of law.[14]

C.   Israel’s Supreme Court Recognizes Israel as the Occupying Power of the
Palestinian Territories

The Israeli Supreme Court routinely refers to the Palestinian Territories [15] as occupied and selectively enforces international law with respect to the Israeli military presence there.[16]

In 1979, for example, the Israeli Supreme Court stated: “This is a situation of belligerency and the status of [Israel] with respect to the occupied territory is that of an Occupying Power.”[17]  In 2002, the Israeli Supreme Court held again that the West Bank and Gaza Strip “are subject to a belligerent occupation by the State of Israel.”[18]

Most recently, in June, 2004, the Israeli Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Territories are occupied under international law.[19] In order to find the putative legal authority to confiscate thousands of acres of Palestinian land to construct its Wall, the High Court proclaimed: “Since 1967, Israel has been holding [the Palestinian Territories] in belligerent occupation.”[20]

Therefore, even though Israeli politicians may rhetorically dispute Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories, Israeli courts continually recognize the Israeli military as the Occupying Power of the Palestinian Territories.

D.   The International Court of Justice Recognizes Israel as the Occupying Power

In July 2004, the International Court of Justice held that “. . .[t]he territories occupied by Israel have for over 37 years been subject to its territorial jurisdiction as the occupying Power.”[21]

E.   Israel Remains an Occupying Power under the Oslo Accords

Israel maintained effective military control over the Palestinian Territories during the Oslo period (roughly 1993-2000), satisfying the general international legal standard for occupation. During Oslo, the Israeli military continued land confiscation and nearly doubled the population of its illegal colonies. Further, it continued building bypass roads and infrastructure, rendered Palestinian movement even more difficult, and frequently conducted military operations in and around the areas in which it had putatively ceded control.

Since Oslo, the erection of Israel’s wall inside the Occupied West Bank provides another example of Israel’s ongoing control over Palestinians and their land.[22]  The Wall—a regime of concrete, electrified fences, trenches, razor wire and sniper towers—effectively divides Palestinians from their agricultural and water resources, limits access of Palestinians to their property and restricts the freedom of movement of Palestinians within their own territory.

Moreover, the Oslo Accords specifically affirmed that the Palestinian Territories would remain under Israeli occupation until the conclusion and implementation of a final peace treaty. Although the Accords permitted limited self-administration for some Palestinians, the Accords expressly reiterated that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will continue to be considered one territorial unit, and that withdrawal from Palestinian population centers will do nothing “to change the status” of the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the duration of the Accords.[23]

Finally, the United Nations,[24] the international community,[25] the Israeli Supreme Court,[26] and the International Court of Justice all held during and after Oslo that Israel continues to occupy the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The ICJ specifically emphasized that “[s]ubsequent events [to 1967’s War]…have done nothing to alter [the status of occupation].”[27]

II.    THE GAZA STRIP  REMAINS OCCUPIED TERRITORY EVEN IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE “DISENGAGEMENT” PLAN

A.   Israel Will Retain Effective Control over the Gaza Strip and Will Therefore Remain
the Occupying Power

Under the “Disengagement” Plan, Gazans will still be subjected to the effective control of the Israeli military. Although Israel will supposedly remove its permanent military presence, Israeli forces will retain the ability and right to enter the Gaza Strip at will.[28]

Further, Israel will retain control over Gaza’s airspace, sea shore, and borders.[29]  Under the Plan, Israel will unilaterally control whether or not Gaza opens a seaport or an airport. Additionally, Israel will control all border crossings, including Gaza’s border with Egypt.[30]  And Israel will “continue its military activity along the Gaza Strip’s coastline.”[31]  Taken together, these powers mean that all goods and people entering or leaving Gaza will be subject to Israeli control.

Finally, Israel will prevent Gazans from engaging in international relations.[32]  Accordingly, if it enacts the “Disengagement” Plan as envisaged, Israel will effectively control Gaza—administratively and militarily.[33] Therefore, Israel will remain the Occupying Power of the Gaza Strip.

B.   Israel Will Remain the Occupying Power of the Gaza Strip so long as Israel Retains
the Ability to Exercise Authority over the Strip

In The Hostages Case, the Nuremburg Tribunal expounded upon The Hague Regulations’ basic definition of occupation in order to ascertain when occupation ends.[34]  It held that “[t]he test for application of the legal regime of occupation is not whether the occupying power fails to exercise effective control over the territory, but whether it has the ability to exercise such power.”[35] In that case, the Tribunal had to decide whether Germany’s occupation of Greece and Yugoslavia had ended when Germany had ceded de facto control to non-German forces of certain territories. Even though Germany did not actually control those areas, the Tribunal held that Germany indeed remained the “occupying power”—both in Greece and Yugoslavia generally and in the territories to which it had ceded control—since it could have reentered and controlled those territories at will.

Similarly, Israel will retain ultimate authority over Gaza and to a much greater degree than Germany in The Hostages Case: The Israeli military expressly reserves itself the right to enter the Gaza Strip at will. Further, Israel will not just retain the ability to exercise control over Gaza, but it will also retain effective control over Gaza’s borders, air and sea space, overall security, and international relations.

Moreover, even if Israel should devolve some of its duties to third parties—either as co-occupying powers or as designees—Israel will remain an occupying power so long as it retains the ability to effectively control the Gaza Strip at will, whether with Israel’s own troops or those of its agents or partners.

C.   As an Occupying Power, Israel Must Protect Palestinians and Their Lands

Since Israel will continue to occupy the Gaza Strip, Israel will still be bound by its obligations under International Law—namely 1907’s Hague Regulations, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and international customary law. Under international law, an occupying power must uphold certain obligations to the people and land it occupies. For example, an occupying power must maintain the status quo of occupied territory and may never unilaterally annex territory or transfer its civilian population into occupied territory.[36] Moreover, the occupying power’s activity in occupied territory must, inter alia, be for the benefit of the population it occupies.[37]

Nevertheless, the absence of a “permanent” Israeli military presence and illegal settlers will mark a significant change in Gaza’s 37-year-history of belligerent Israeli occupation. The Fourth Geneva Convention does indeed contemplate changes in the degree of occupation; changes in circumstances, however, do not necessarily translate into the end of occupation.[38] Since Israel will retain such a high-degree of administrative and military authority over Gaza—control over air space, sea space, the provision of public utility services, all border crossings, military security, and international relations[39]—Israel will still be bound to all relevant provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, 1907’s Hague Regulations, and applicable customary international law.[40]

III.    THE STRATEGY BEHIND THE DISENGAGEMENT PLAN

A.   THE DISENGAGEMENT PLAN IS DEMOGRAPHICALLY MOTIVATED

Israel’s greatest battle is not against “terrorism,” but against demography. Statistical analyses project that Palestinian Christians and Muslims will comprise the majority of persons in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories by the year 2020.[41]   If Israel wants to remain a “Jewish state,” then it will be very difficult to maintain its Jewish identity if an ethno/religious minority continues to rule over an ethnic majority. Israeli journalist David Landau noted in a statement made to a British journalist that the Gaza plans represents “the simplest, crudest solution [to Israel’s demographic time bomb]: to dump Gaza and its 1.3 million Arabs in the hope that that would ‘buy’ [Israel] 50 more years.”[42]

Therefore, one of the primary motivations behind Israel’s “Disengagement” Plan is to “dump” 1.3 million non-Jews while illegally confiscating as much Palestinian land in the West Bank as possible.

B.   ISRAEL SEEKS TO CONSOLIDATE GAINS IN THE WEST BANK IN EXCHANGE FOR
“CONCESSIONS” IN GAZA

While the world publicly debates the “Disengagement” Plan, Israel has been constructing the Wall in the Occupied West Bank. The Wall severs Palestinians from their lands, communities, and homes, while illegally appropriating more land and natural resources for Israeli colonies. In addition, Israel continues to expand illegal colonies in the Occupied West Bank. Since the ICJ issued its ruling on July 9, 2004 holding that the colonies are illegal, Israel has announced tenders for more than 2,300 housing units in the West Bank.

The success of Israel’s strategy became evident during a press conference on April 14, 2004, when U.S. President Bush, ostensibly in an effort to support the Gaza Plan, endorsed Israel’s plans to keep illegal West Bank colonies (which he termed “Israeli population centers”) in any permanent status agreement. President Bush further expressed U.S. opposition for Palestinian refugees’ right to return to homes and property inside Israel, which international law guarantees to them.

Unlike the Gaza settlements, however, the West Bank settlements that Israel would keep “in exchange” for its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza house tens of thousands of illegal colonists and stretch many miles into Occupied Palestinian Territory. In fact, just as Israel has evacuated 8,500 settlers from the occupied Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank, it has embarked on plans to make room for 30,000 new settlers this year alone, primarily in and around occupied East Jerusalem.

Thus, Israel will demographically, and perhaps permanently, entrench its presence in the West Bank. Therefore, the Gaza withdrawal plan has less to do with what Israel is giving up in Gaza and more to do with what Israel plans on taking from the West Bank.

IV.    CONCLUSION: CONSTRUCTIVE SOLUTIONS

Israel will retain effective military, economic, and administrative control over the Gaza Strip and will therefore continue to occupy the Gaza Strip—even after implementation of its “Disengagement Plan” as proposed. Because Israel will continue to occupy Gaza, it will still be bound by the provisions of 1907’s Hague Regulations, the Fourth Geneva Convention and relative international customary law.

This is not to say, however, that removing Gaza’s settlers or reducing the Israeli military presence in and around the Gaza Strip could not usher in a better age for Palestinians and Israelis alike. Palestinians appreciate any movement on Israel’s part towards compliance with international law. Compliance with international law brings Palestinians closer to liberation and the region closer to stability. By providing non-violent channels to achieve fair results, international law helps silence extremist positions and activity while bringing both sides closer to a negotiated peace. Additionally, respect for international law affirms the credibility of more powerful nations who routinely invoke it as the legitimate basis for their own actions.

Israel’s “Disengagement” Plan however does not represent a good faith effort at advancing peace. Rather, Israel is selectively complying with some international legal standards in the Gaza Strip to preempt criticism for massive violations in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem). In so doing, Israel ensures that the conflict will continue and perhaps intensify. If Israel maintains effective control over the Gaza Strip, denying it the ability to develop internally or trade externally, Gaza could become a greater humanitarian disaster than it already is. Or if Israel eventually proclaims Gaza the “State of Palestine,” the freedom guaranteed under international law might become ever more distant for Palestinians elsewhere.

The international community should ensure that whatever unilateral measures Israel takes conform to international law and are not used to justify violations of international law elsewhere.

Today, however, Israel is making room for over 30,000 new settlers in the occupied West Bank this year alone, especially in and around occupied East Jerusalem—or almost four times the number of settlers that were evacuated from the occupied Gaza Strip as part of “Disengagement.”

We now have an historic opportunity for peace in the Middle East. Rather than an illegal declaration of an end of occupation on less than 4% of the Palestinian territory that Israel occupies, Israel should join the new Palestinian Leadership in negotiating an end of conflict.

Peace is the best security for both Palestinians and Israelis and the only secure peace is an agreed peace. We know the contours of any final status agreement; we have the opportunity; and both the Palestinian and Israeli people have the will. An immediate return to bilateral negotiations, with the international community as mediator, would help to bring permanent and positive change to the Middle East.


[1] Gaza “Disengagement” Plan, Section II.A.3, available at << http://www.nad-plo.org/gazaplan.php>>, last checked September 21, 2004.

[2] George W. Bush, Letter of Assurances to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,

[3] See, e.g., Dore Gold, From ‘Occupied Territories’ to ‘Disputed Territories, January, 2002, available at <http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp470.htm>, last checked July 25, 2004. Cf. Joel Singer, legal adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who stated after the signing of the Oslo Accords that “notwithstanding the transfer of a large portion of the powers and responsibilities currently exercised by Israel to Palestinian hands, the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip will not be changed during the interim period.”  Joel Singer, “The Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements,” I Justice 4, 6 (Int’l Assn of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, 1994).

[4] Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulation concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, 3 Martens Nouveau Recueil (ser. 3) 461, 187 Consol. T.S. 227, entered into force Jan. 26, 1910, hereinafter “The Hague Convention.”

[5] Customary international law governs these basic obligations, which are articulated in 1907’s Hague Convention, 1949’s Fourth Geneva Convention, and 1977’s First Protocol to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

[6] The Hague Conventions, see note 4 supra.

[7] Robbie Savel, The Problematic Fourth Geneva Convention: Rethinking the International Law of Occupation, The Jurist, available at <http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forum/forumnew120.php>, last checked June 9, 2004 (asserting that the Hague Regulations have achieved status as customary international law—that is, a set of binding international norms recognized by the community of nations—and that most of the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention and its 1st Additional Protocol have also achieved that status).

[8] U.S. v. Wilhelm List, Nuremberg Tribunal, 1948.

[9] Geneva Convention relative to the protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 75 U.N.T.S 287 (1949); Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 1125 U.N.T.S. 3 (1979).

[10] See note 21 supra and accompanying text.

[11] Israel also assumed control over Syria’s Golan Heights and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.  While Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt, Israel still occupies Syria’s Golan Heights.

[12] United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (1967).

[13] See, e.g., U.S. State Department Country Report on Israel and the Occupied Territories, 2003, released February 25, 2004, available at <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27929.htm#occterr>, last checked June 27, 2004 (referring to the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories”).

[14] United Nations Security Council resolution 1544 (2004) (cites Israel’s obligations as an “occupying Power” under international law and references the Territories “occupied” since 1967); United Nations General Assembly resolution 58/292 (2004) (affirming “that the status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, remains one of military occupation”).

[15] Israel, however, claims to have annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights pursuant to domestic Israeli law, which the international community has rejected en masse.  See, e.g., United Nations Security Council Resolution 252.

[16] Although the Israeli Supreme Court does recognize Palestinian territories as “occupied” under international law, it does not recognize de jure application of the Fourth Geneva Convention, contrary to universal international opinio juris.  For a discussion on this distinction and its lack of legal foundation, see Claude Bruderlein, “Legal Aspects of Israel’s Disengagement Plan under International Humanitarian Law,” Harvard University Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (August, 2004).However, the Supreme Court selectively does apply some humanitarian provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

[17] 606 Il. H.C. 78, Ayub, et al. v. Minister of Defence, et al. (The Beth Case); 610 Il. H.C. 78, Matawa et al. v. Minister of Defence, et al. (The Bekaot Case), reprinted in Antoine Bouvier and Marco Sassoli, How Does Law Protect in War? Cases, Documents and Teaching Materials on Contemporary Practice in International Humanitarian Law, International Committee of the Red Cross, pps. 812-817, Geneva, 1999, hereinafter “ICRC 1999.” Ironically, the Supreme Court terms the Palestinian Territories “occupied” so that it can confiscate Palestinian land: Under the Law of Occupation, the occupying power’s military boasts authority to temporarily confiscate land necessary to achieve military objectives.

[18] Adjuri v. IDF Commander, 7015 Il. H.C. 02, 7019 Il. H.C. 02 (2002).

[19] 2056 Il. H.C. 04 (2004).

[20] Id. at  1.

[21] Int’l C.J. Advisory Opinion on the L. Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, at  112 (2004).

[22] For more information on Israel’s Wall, please visit << http://www.nad-plo.org/wprimary.php>>, last checked July 4, 2004.

[23] Agreement on Preparatory Powers and Responsibilities (August 9, 1994), Article XIII, Secs. 4, 5.

[24] See notes 12-14 supra and accompanying text.

[25] Id.

[26] See notes 15 et seq. and accompanying text, emphasizing, however, that the Israeli Supreme Court does not consider East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights to be “occupied,” since Israel unilaterally annexed those territories, which the international community recognizes as “null and void.”  See, e.g., United Nations Security Council Res. 478 (1980).

[27] Int’l C.J. Advisory Opinion on the L. Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, at  78 (2004).

[28] Sharon’s Gaza Disengagement Plan, May 28, 2004, Section III.A.3(stating that “[t]he State of Israel reserves the basic right to self defense, which includes taking preventive measures as well as the use of force against threats originating in the Gaza Strip”).

[29] Id. at Section III.A.1.

[30] Id. at Section VI.

[31] Id. at Section III.A.1.

[32] Id. generally.

[33] Claude Bruderlein, “Legal Aspects of Israel’s Disengagement Plan under International Humanitarian Law,” Harvard University Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (August, 2004), available upon request.

[34] See note 4 supra and accompanying text.

[35] U.S.A v. Wilhelm List, Nuremberg Tribunal, 1948.

[36] See Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), Articles 47-49 and Protocol I to the Fourth Geneva Convention (1979).

[37] See Int’l C.J. Advisory Opinion on the L. Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, at  123-26 (2004).

[38] See Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), Article 6.

[39] See Section II.A, supra.

[40] See, e.g., International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention of the Rights of Child.

[41] See, e.g., Jonathan Freedland, A Gift of Dust and Bones: Sharon’s Plan for a Pullout Owes More to Demographic Shifts than a Belated Conversion to Peace-Making, The Guardian, Wed. June 2, 2004.

[42] Id.

Document Type: Report
Country: Israel
Subject: Gaza StripPalestine questionPeace processSettlementsStatehood-related
Publication Date: 01/09/2005

[2A]

NB
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WIPE OUT ENTIRE FAMILIES IN GAZA

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https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-10-t-m-12-israelische-terreur/

BTSELEM.ORG

ISRAEL IS STARVING GAZA

8 JANUARY 2024

https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20240108_israel_is_starving_gaza

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST NOOT 11 UIT EEN  ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-10-t-m-12-israelische-terreur/

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

ISRAEL: UNLAWFUL GAZA BLOCKADE DEADLY FOR CHILDREN

Denial of Water, Fuel, Electricity Endangers Lives

18 OCTOBER 2023

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel-unlawful-gaza-blockade-deadly-children

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 12 UIT

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-10-t-m-12-israelische-terreur/

ZIE OOK

MAIL ASTRID ESSED AAN NOS TELETEKST/”UW BERICHTGEVING

DD 15 JANUARI 2024/”SPELER ISRAEL OPGEPAKT IN TURKIJE”

https://www.astridessed.nl/mail-astrid-essed-aan-nos-teletekst-uw-berichtgeving-dd-15-januari-2024-speler-israel-opgepakt-in-turkije/

VN VEILIGHEIDSRAADSRESOLUTIE 2417/VERBOD OP

UITHONGERING ALS OORLOGSWAPEN

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2417.pdf

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST NOOT 44 ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-41-t-m-52-sweet-caroline-en-vriend-milders/

”Het Internationaal Humanitair Recht (IHR) verbiedt ten strengste het gebruik van verhongering/uithongering als oorlogsmethode. Israël is gebonden aan de IHR-verplichtingen om te voorzien in de behoeften en bescherming van de bevolking van Gaza. In 2018 nam de VN-Veiligheidsraad resolutie 2417 aan, waarin unaniem de inzet van uithongering tegen burgers als oorlogsmethode werd veroordeeld en elke weigering van humanitaire toegang als een schending van het internationaal recht werd verklaard”

GOEDE DOELEN.NL

HONGER WORDT ALS OORLOGSWAPEN INGEZET

TEGEN BURGERS IN GAZA

26 OCTOBER 2023

https://goededoelen.nl/nieuws/honger-wordt-als-oorlogswapen-ingezet-tegen-burgers-in-gaza#:~:text=In%202018%20nam%20de%20VN,het%20internationaal%20recht%20werd%20verklaard.

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST NOOT 44 ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-41-t-m-52-sweet-caroline-en-vriend-milders/

MEDISCHE ZORG IN GAZA BIJNA NIET MEER MOGELIJK DOOR OORLOG, ZIEKENHUIZEN

ONDER VUUR

11 NOVEMBER 2023

https://www.ad.nl/buitenland/medische-zorg-in-gaza-bijna-niet-meer-mogelijk-door-oorlog-ziekenhuizen-onder-vuur~a11aa7f9/

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST NOOT 46 ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-41-t-m-52-sweet-caroline-en-vriend-milders/

”Volgens Dekkers zou Israël helpen met de evacuatie van de baby’s, maar is dat niet gebeurd. Het Israëlische leger (IDF) zegt gisteren brandstof te hebben achtergelaten bij het ziekenhuis, maar ook dat die door Hamas is ingenomen. Volgens Dekkers was die brandstof sowieso onvoldoende.”

BNR NIEUWS

ISRAEL HELPT BABY’S IN NOOD TOCH NIET,

ZIEKENHUIZEN GAZA-STAD WERKEN NIET MEER

https://www.bnr.nl/nieuws/internationaal/10531079/ziekenhuizen-gaza-stad-functioneren-niet-meer-situatie-libanon-escaleert

ZIE VOOR GEHELE ARTIKEL NOOT 48 ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-41-t-m-52-sweet-caroline-en-vriend-milders/

  • The Israeli military’s repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport are further destroying Gaza’s healthcare system and should be investigated as war crimes.”

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCHGAZA: UNLAWFUL ISRAELI HOSPITAL STRIKESWORSEN HEALTH CRISIS

Israel’s Blockade, Bombardment Decimate Healthcare System; Investigate as War Crimes

14 NOVEMBER 2023

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/14/gaza-unlawful-israeli-hospital-strikes-worsen-health-crisis

ZIE VOOR GEHELE ARTIKEL, NOOT 50 ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-41-t-m-52-sweet-caroline-en-vriend-milders/

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

ISRAEL/OPT: ”NOWHERE SAFE IN GAZA”/UNLAWFUL

ISRAELI STRIKES ILLUSTRATE CALLOUS DISREGARD FOR PALESTINIAN LIVES

20 NOVEMBER 2023

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/11/israel-opt-nowhere-safe-in-gaza-unlawful-israeli-strikes-illustrate-callous-disregard-for-palestinian-lives/

ZIE VOOR GEHELE ARTIKEL, NOOT 51 ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-41-t-m-52-sweet-caroline-en-vriend-milders/

‘De Amerikaanse president Biden heeft Israël gewaarschuwd dat het de steun van zijn bondgenoten aan het kwijtraken is door “het lukraak bombarderen” van de Gazastrook. Volgens cijfers van de gezondheidsautoriteiten in Gaza zijn zeker 18.000 mensen gedood en meer dan 50.000 mensen gewond geraakt.”

NOS

BIDEN: ISRAEL VERLIEST STEUN DOOR LUKRAKE

AANVALLEN

https://nos.nl/artikel/2501375-biden-israel-verliest-steun-door-lukrake-aanvallen

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 54 ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-53-t-m-58-sweet-caroline-en-vriend-milders/

”To date, CPJ has determined that at least 12 journalists and two media workers were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders: Issam AbdallahHamza Al DahdouhMustafa ThurayaIsmail Al GhoulRami Al RefeeGhassan NajjarWissam KassemMohammed RedaAyman Al GediFaisal Abu Al QumsanMohammed Al-LadaaFadi HassounaIbrahim Sheikh Ali, and Hossam Shabat.”

CPJ.ORG

JOURNALIST CASUALTIES IN THE ISRAEL-GAZA WAR

4 FEBRUARY 2025

https://cpj.org/2025/02/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/

The Israel-Gaza war has taken an unprecedented toll on Gazan journalists since Israel declared war on Hamas following its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

As of March 25, 2025, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 173 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.

Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict, including devastating Israeli airstrikes, famine, the displacement of 90% of Gaza’s population, and the destruction of 80% of its buildings. CPJ is investigating more than 130 additional cases of potential killings, arrests and injuries, but many are difficult to document amid these harsh conditions.

“Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go to exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”

Journalists are civilians and are protected by International Law. Deliberately targeting civilians constitutes a war crime. In May, the International Criminal Court announced it was seeking arrest warrant applications for Hamas and Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

To date, CPJ has determined that at least 12 journalists and two media workers were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders: Issam AbdallahHamza Al DahdouhMustafa ThurayaIsmail Al GhoulRami Al RefeeGhassan NajjarWissam KassemMohammed RedaAyman Al GediFaisal Abu Al QumsanMohammed Al-LadaaFadi HassounaIbrahim Sheikh Ali, and Hossam Shabat.

CPJ is still researching the details for confirmation in at least 20 other cases that indicate possible targeting.

Two journalists were killed and three were injured in Gaza in the days surrounding the war’s one-year anniversary on October 7, 2024, prompting CPJ to renew its call for an end to impunity in Israel’s attacks on journalists.

As of March 25:

CPJ is also investigating numerous unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, hurt, or threatened, and of damage to media offices and journalists’ homes.

The list of killed journalists documented in our database includes names based on information obtained from CPJ’s sources in the region and media reports. It includes all journalists* involved in news-gathering activity. It is not always immediately clear whether all of these journalists were covering the conflict at the time of their deaths, but CPJ has included them in its count as it investigates their circumstances.

The list is being updated on a regular basis, with names being removed if CPJ confirms that those members of the media were not working journalists at the time they were killed, injured, or went missing.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials have repeatedly told media outlets that the army does not deliberately target journalists. It also told agencies shortly after the war started that it could not guarantee the safety of journalists. CPJ has called for an end to the longstanding pattern of impunity in cases of journalists killed by the IDF.

United Nations experts have raised concerns over the killings of journalists, saying in a February statement that they were “alarmed at the extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured and detained in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in Gaza, in recent months blatantly disregarding international law.”

The lists below detail those injured and missing in the Israel-Gaza war:

INJURED

CPJ is aware that dozens of Palestinian journalists were injured during the war. CPJ counts the journalists cases it was able to document, and continues to investigate other cases.

November 28, 2024

Talal Al Arrouqi

Al Arrouqi, a 31-year-old Palestinian correspondent for the privately owned Qatari-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher, was injured by Israeli airstrikes on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza while reporting on ambulances rescuing injured people, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

“At around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, the ambulance service received a report that there were a number of residents trapped in an area north of the Nuseirat camp due to Israeli gunfire and shelling of their homes,” he said, adding that he headed out with the ambulances once the shelling subsided.

“When we arrived at the location, we were directly shot at by Israeli drones, as well as shells from Israeli tanks, several times. I took cover at the entrance to a house, and the shooting continued several times. We changed our hiding place every time, until the Israeli tanks fired a shell at us that fell around us,” he said.

“I flew 2 meters [2.2 yards] away from my hiding place because of its force. I was injured in my right hand and leg by shrapnel from the shell, as well as my head,” he said.

Al Arrouqi said several paramedics were injured but a wounded ambulance driver took him to the camp’s Al-Awda Hospital.

“I lost consciousness due to the injury, and I woke up in the hospital’s emergency department. I am still receiving treatment,” he said.

Al Arrouqi is one of six Al Jazeera journalists accused by the IDF of being members of militant groups. Al Jazeera and CPJ condemned the allegations as unfounded.

Al Arrouqi denied the allegations, adding, “The occupation fights anyone who carries a camera and covers the image of the bombing. They noticed the presence of journalists in the area, so they opened fire and shelled directly [on us].”

Al Arrouqi was also injured on October 31, 2024.

November 19, 2024

Hossam Shabat

Shabat, a 23-year-old Palestinian reporter and photographer for Qatari-based Al Jazeera Mubasher, was injured on the evening of November 19, 2024, when an Israeli airstrike hit a house in the Al-Basra neighborhood in southern Gaza, according to footage and reports by his outlet and Shabat, who spoke to CPJ.

Shabat told CPJ he was on his way to report about a house, which Israeli forces had previously bombed, with Mohamed Al-Masry, one of the channel’s camera operators. Shabat said both journalists were wearing “Press” vests and traveled in a car marked with press insignia.

“We drove our car behind the civil defense vehicle to the site of the bombing. When we arrived and entered the house, we were surprised that it was targeted again and bombed by Israeli warplanes,” Shabat told CPJ, adding that the strike killed one of the civil defense workers.

Shortly after the attack, Shabat posted details on social media, saying he was “deliberately targeted by Israeli forces.” Shabat told CPJ he believed the bombing could have been intentional and linked to accusations made by Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

On October 23, the IDF accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists working with Al Jazeera in Gaza of being members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

CPJ has denounced and called for a halt to Israel’s practice of making unsubstantiated allegations as a means of justifying its killing and wider mistreatment of journalists and media workers.

Shabat and Al-Masry were treated for bruising on their backs at a hospital but were discharged due to the high number of injured people.

Mohamed Al-Masry

Al-Masry, a 20-year-old Palestinian camera operator for Qatari-based Al Jazeera Mubasher, was injured on the evening of November 19, 2024, when an Israeli airstrike hit a local house in the Al-Basra neighborhood in southern Gaza, according to footage and reports by his outlet and Hosaam Shabat, a reporter and photographer for the outlet, who spoke to CPJ.

Shabat told CPJ that the pair were on their way to report about a house that Israeli forces had previously bombed. Shabat said both journalists were wearing “Press” vests and traveled in a car marked with press insignia.

“We drove our car behind the civil defense vehicle to the site of the bombing. When we arrived and entered the house, we were surprised that it was targeted again and bombed by Israeli warplanes,” Shabat told CPJ, adding that the strike killed one of the civil defense workers.

Shortly after the attack, Shabat posted details on social media and said he was “deliberately targeted by Israeli forces.” Shabat told CPJ he believed the bombing could have been intentional and linked to accusations made by Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

On October 23, the IDF accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists working with Al Jazeera in Gaza of being members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

CPJ has denounced and called for a halt to Israel’s practice of making unsubstantiated allegations as a means of justifying its killing and wider mistreatment of journalists and media workers.

Shabat and Al-Masry were treated for bruising on their backs at a hospital but were discharged due to the high number of injured people.

November 9, 2024

Samer Zaneen

Zaneen, a 34-year-old Palestinian freelance journalist, who works for the U.K.’s BBC radio and television, and Yemen Today’s Abdul Hadi Farahat were both injured by Israeli bombing of tents in the compound of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and the journalists, who spoke to CPJ.

Zaneen told CPJ that he was displaced at the beginning of the war from his home in the northern town of Beit Hanoun to Deir al-Balah.

“At around 1:45 pm on Saturday afternoon, Israeli aircraft suddenly targeted a tent for displaced people inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital… We [journalists] work in a tent next to it. We heard the sound of an explosion and fire,” Zaneen said.

“The fire entered our tent and devoured it. I was in the tent with my colleague Abdul Hadi Farahat and a number of journalists at the time,” he said.

“I was injured by the shelling, with some bruises and shrapnel in one of my feet. I was admitted to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after the injury, received treatment and was discharged the same day,” Zaneen said.

Abdul Hadi Farhat

Farhat, a 28-year-old Palestinian correspondent for Yemen Today television channel, was injured along with the BBC’s Samer Zaneen by Israeli bombing of tents in the compound of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and the journalists, who spoke to CPJ.

Farhat said he moved to the hospital compound after fleeing his home in Jabalia camp in northern Gaza at the start of the war.

“There were no less than six journalists with us in the tent… when the shelling occurred. We found shrapnel flying at us as the tent was torn apart and the fire engulfed it, while the remains of the martyrs and wounded were scattered on our bodies,” Farhat told CPJ.

“We miraculously survived the shelling, and I suffered severe bruises on my feet as a result of the force of the missile and the falling remains and shrapnel,” he said, adding that he was treated at the hospital and discharged later that day.

November 5, 2024

Rabie Al-Munir

Al-Munir, a Palestinian camera operator for the Qatari-funded Al-Araby TV, was shot in the abdomen while reporting on an Israeli military operation in Qabatiya, south of the West Bank city of Jenin, according to media reportsVideo footage showed Al-Munir being treated in Jenin’s Ibn Sina hospital.

Al-Araby TV reporter and witness Ameed Shehade told the local online outlet Al-Jarmaq News that the journalists were visible to the nearby Israeli soldiers who “fired directly at us.” Al-Munir was wearing his “Press” vest, which reduced the severity of the injury, and his condition was stable, he added.

Previously, on May 6, Shehade and Al-Munir were shot at by Israeli soldiers while covering an operation in the West Bank city of Tulkarem.

October 31, 2024

Talal Al Arrouqi

Al Arrouqi, a 31-year-old Palestinian correspondent for the privately owned Qatari-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher, was injured by an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ. The privately owned Al-Ghad TV correspondent Mahmoud Al Louh was injured in the same strike.

Al Arrouqi told CPJ that “at around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Israeli airstrikes targeted three homes in the area north of Nuseirat camp in central Gaza … I went with the ambulance to cover the incident with my colleague Mahmoud Al Louh.

“When we arrived at the site, the situation was difficult due to the bombing and the lack of electricity. Residents were pulling out the dead and wounded. Minutes later, Israeli airstrikes targeted another home next to the three targeted homes, which resulted in the injury of my right foot, as a result of flying stones and shattered glass, as well as bruises all over my body because the force of the explosion threw me to another place.”

Al Arrouqi said that after about 15 minutes of being trapped under the debris, he was transferred to al-Awda Hospital but soon left because it was overwhelmed by an influx of dozens of dead and injured patients. He did not seek further medical treatment.

Al Arrouqi is one of six Al Jazeera journalists accused by the IDF of being members of militant groups. Al Jazeera and CPJ condemned the allegations as unfounded.

Mahmoud Al Louh

Al Louh, a 34-year-old Palestinian correspondent with privately owned Al-Ghad TV was injured by an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist who spoke to CPJ. Talal Al Arrouqi, correspondent for the privately owned Qatari-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher, was injured in the same strike.

“I was injured as a result of the shelling that occurred while I was reporting, with bruises all over my body,” Al Louh told CPJ, adding that he sought treatment at Al-Awda Hospital but quickly left as it was full of casualties from the strike.

October 25, 2024

Hassan Hoteit

Hoteit, a Lebanese camera operator for the media production company Isol, told CPJ that his hip was broken when an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing 18 journalists in south Lebanon’s Hasbaya area. Two other journalists were injured and three were killed in the attack, which Lebanon described as a “war crime.”

Hoteit told CPJ that he received surgery in the capital Beirut, was hospitalized for a week, and required bed rest for a month.

Zakaria Fadel

Fadel, a Lebanese assistant camera operator for the media production company Isol, told CPJ that he was injured, without providing further details, when an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing 18 journalists in south Lebanon’s Hasbaya area. Two other journalists were injured and three were killed in the attack, which Lebanon described as a “war crime.”

Ali Mortada

Mortada, a Lebanese camera operator for the Qatari-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera, told CPJ that his shoulder was broken when an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing 18 journalists in south Lebanon’s Hasbaya area. Two other journalists were injured and three were killed in the attack, which Lebanon described as a “war crime.”

October 14, 2024

Mohammed Abu Armana

Abu Armana, a 37-year-old Palestinian journalist, was injured in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Mawasi, west of Rafah city in southern Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

“A number of displaced citizens in the Mawasi area, west of Rafah city, called the ambulance and told them that there was a martyr [fatality] and injuries in the area. And based on that, they headed there and I was with them to document the event,” Abu Armana told CPJ.

“When we arrived at the scene, we were surprised by a new Israeli target [strike] next to us, with a missile from an Israeli drone and four shells from a tank. And I sustained a minor injury to my left hand, as did three paramedics,” he said.

Safenaz Al-Louh

Al-Louh, a 33-year-old Palestinian journalist who freelances with multiple outlets including the Gaza-based Al-Elamya News and the Qatari-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher, was injured when Israeli airstrikes hit tents for displaced people in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The airstrike caused a huge fire, killing at least four people.

“At around 2 a.m., we were surprised by Israeli warplanes bombing the tents of displaced people inside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital,” Al-Louh told CPJ. “As a result of the presence of cooking gas cylinders used by the displaced inside their tents, the bombing led to their explosion and the flames engulfed more than 30 tents.”

“I suffered burns to my left hand and foot while I was filming the event as the gas cylinders exploded,” said Al-Louh, who received treatment at the hospital.

Despite her injury, Al-Louhh has continued to report from Gaza with her left hand in a bandage.

She has given numerous interviews from Gaza during the war, including for Egyptian public broadcaster ETC TV and Ramallah-based Basma Radio.

October 9, 2024

Tamer Lubbad

Lubbad, a 37-year-old Palestinian correspondent for the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV, was injured when an Israeli drone strike landed near him and his colleague Mohammed Al-Tanani as they were covering an Israeli siege on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. Camera operator Al-Tanani was killed.

Both men were wearing “Press” vests and helmets and were clearly identifiable as journalists, according to video footage and Lubbad, who spoke to CPJ.

“We went to monitor and cover the situation after we learned that the Israeli occupation forces are besieging the Jabalia camp and its residents,” Lubbad told CPJ via messaging app. “We reached the closest area to the camp — and the area was not dangerous — where we did a report. After finishing it and as we were leaving the area at about 4:30 p.m., a drone fired missiles that hit Mohammed directly, which immediately killed him.”

“The missile cut through his lower half and I was hit by shrapnel behind my left shoulder and shrapnel next to my colon,” he said, adding that it took two hours for the ambulance to arrive because of “repeated and deliberate” gunfire from Israeli forces.

“I received first aid in the ambulance. And at the General Service Hospital in Gaza City, an operation was performed to extract the shrapnel and I am staying there to complete the treatment,” he said.

Fadi Al Wahidi

Al Wahidi, a Palestinian camera operator for the Qatari-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera was critically injured in the neck by a bullet fired from an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft while Al Wahidi and correspondent Anas Al-Sharif were covering an Israeli siege on northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp. Both men were wearing “Press” vests and clearly identifiable as journalists.

“I was with my colleague, cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi, at the end of al-Jalaa Street, north of Gaza City, where we were in an area completely far from the areas of operations of the Israeli occupation forces. We had with us the external live broadcast vehicle to transmit the news,” Al-Sharif told CPJ via phone from Gaza City.

“The place was originally full of residents. Suddenly, while we were filming the events and after we had also finished a live segment on the channel, an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired at us.”

“After the shooting, we tried to move to another safer place and hide from any danger, but a bullet from the plane hit our colleague Fadi Al-Wahidi in the neck, which led to his complete paralysis. He is now lying in the Al-Ahli Hospital in a very critical condition, and in urgent need of travel for treatment outside the Gaza Strip to receive medical care.”

“This incident marks yet another grave violation against journalists in Gaza, where Israeli forces have been increasingly hostile toward media workers,” Al Jazeera said. “The deliberate targeting of journalists is a flagrant violation of international laws protecting the press and humanitarian workers in war zones.”

October 7, 2024

Ali Al-Attar

Al-Attar, a 27-year-old Palestinian journalist and Al Jazeera Arabic camera operator, was severely injured when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent for displaced people in front of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera and Al-Attar’s cousin Ahmed Maqat, who spoke to CPJ.

Al Jazeera posted a video showing Al-Attar being helped up from his bed and given first aid after some of the shrapnel from the 3 a.m. strike landed on a tent for Al Jazeera reporters.

“Ali was immediately admitted to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and then transferred to the intensive care unit at the Gaza European Hospital south of Khan Yunis. He did not undergo any surgery because he is suffering from internal bleeding and he is still in a semi-coma,” Maqat told CPJ.

Al Jazeera said on Wednesday that pieces of shrapnel pierced Al-Attar’s skull, causing bleeding that resulted in a coma, and that his condition was deteriorating. Medics in Gaza were unable to treat him due to the lack of medical resources amid the ongoing war.

Al-Attar’s colleagues have called on the international community to facilitate his evacuation in order to save his life.

October 1, 2024

Ahmed Al-Zard

Al-Zard, a 33-year-old Palestinian camera operator and producer for the local Al-Kofiya TV, was injured and four family members were killed when Israeli aircraft bombed the house where they were staying in the village of Ma’an, east of Khan Yunis, the journalist told CPJ.

“At around 9 p.m., we began hearing very intense and rapid sounds of bombing. Minutes later, the house was bombed over our heads by Israeli warplanes without any warning. It turned out that the occupation had stormed the area and besieged it,” Al-Zard told CPJ.

“We were 13 people in the house. I was immediately injured, along with eight others. My brother, my uncle, his wife, and their daughter were martyred. We remained trapped until the Israeli occupation withdrew at 4:30 a.m.,” he added.

“I was hit by shrapnel all over my body, in my back, spleen, stomach, knees, hands, and head. I am currently suffering from internal bleeding. I am being treated at the European Gaza Hospital, southeast of Khan Yunis, with ongoing tests to determine what surgeries I need,” he said.

Ahmed said he fled his home in Gaza City at the beginning of the war and reported from southern Gaza. His family joined him in July but his father, who had cancer, died on the journey.

September 12, 2024

Mahmoud Issa Abu Shirby

Shirby, a 33-year-old Palestinian journalist for the Qatari-funded broadcaster Al-Araby TV and Palestine Today, was severely injured when Israeli airstrikes bombed his aunt’s house in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

“All of my family were forced to flee to areas in the southern Gaza Strip after Israeli threats at the beginning of the war. Only my cousin and I remained in Gaza City,” he told CPJ.

“On Thursday, Israeli warplanes targeted it with a direct missile, killing my aunt’s husband, his brother, and his brother’s children. I was also injured. I saw myself burning in the rubble and shrapnel from the missile eating away at my body.”

“I was critically injured by the bombing. My left foot was amputated, and I suffer from wounds, abrasions, and laceration in my right foot … in addition to severe burns on my chest, abdomen, and hands. I lost all sight in my left eye and 60% in my right eye,” he said.

Shirby told CPJ in February 2025 that he was admitted to Gaza City’s Ahli-Baptist Hospital where he was still receiving treatment, more than four months later. The journalist said it was the twelfth time that he had been injured during the war but the first time that the seriousness of his injuries had stopped him from working.

September 3, 2024

Mohammad Mansour and Ayman al-Nubani

Mohammad Mansour, a Palestinian photographer with the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA, was shot in the left arm while covering an Israeli military operation in the Palestinian village of Kafr Dan, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of the West Bank city of Jenin. Video footage of the incident shows that Mansour was driving a car marked “Press” and wearing a protective vest marked “Press.”

Ayman Al-Nubani, a WAFA photographer, was hit by shrapnel in his left arm in the same incident. He told the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate that Israeli forces used live gunfire against seven journalists in “Press” vests riding in three “Press” cars.

“We narrowly escaped death. Had we not sped up a little, they would have killed us. It was a direct assassination attempt,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the Israeli soldiers “started shooting at us directly.”

Al-Nubani said that Israeli forces obstructed the ambulances that were taking the injured to Jenin’s Ibn Sina Hospital and forces surrounding the hospital questioned them.

August 26, 2024

Mohammed Al-Za’anin

Al-Za’anin, a 40-year-old Palestinian journalist who works as a camera operator for the Turkish-owned TRT Arabic broadcaster, was injured when shrapnel from a missile struck his left eye after an Israeli strike on a house next to the TRT temporary office located in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. Al-Za’anin’s assistant, Mohammed Karajah, was also injured in the incident, according to multiple media reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

The office is currently located in a warehouse facing Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.

Al-Za’anin has been a camera operator and a photographer for 19 years. He was on assignment in the south of the Gaza strip in the early days of the war and remained there as a displaced person when the war unfolded.

“We were near Nasser Hospital when an Israeli warplane struck near us,” Al-Za’nin told CPJ by phone. “I was injured by shrapnel that penetrated my left eye and has not yet come out, and my assistant, Mohammed Karajah, was injured by shrapnel in his left leg. The doctors were able to remove it and he left the hospital.”

Al-Za’anin said that he walked on foot after his injury to Nasser Hospital because of its proximity to the office, and that he is still being treated there after undergoing surgery, but told CPJ he needs an operation outside Gaza to extract the shrapnel due to the lack of capabilities in the strip.

The Turkish foreign ministry posted on X about the incident, saying “the attacks on TRT members in Gaza are an Israeli effort to cover up the truth, with its hands stained with blood. We stand with all members of the press who are working with all their might to make Israel’s cruelty known to the world. We extend our best wishes to the TRT members and the TRT family who were injured in the latest attack.”

Mohammed Karajah

Karajah, a -32-year-old Palestinian media worker who works as an assistant photographer for the Turkish-owned TRT Arabic broadcaster was injured by shrapnel from Israeli missiles when an Israeli airstrike hit a nearby house to the TRT temporary office located in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, according to multiple media reports and his colleague Mohammed Al-Za’anin, who was also injured and spoke to CPJ.

“We were near Nasser Hospital when an Israeli warplane struck near us,” Al-Za’nin told CPJ by phone. “I was injured by shrapnel that penetrated my left eye and has not yet come out, and my assistant, Mohammed Karajah, was injured by shrapnel in his left leg. The doctors were able to remove it and he left the hospital.”

Karajah was displaced from the Bureij Palestinian refugee camp east of the central Gaza Strip to the neighboring city of Deir al-Balah.

The Turkish foreign ministry posted on X about the incident, saying “the attacks on TRT members in Gaza are an Israeli effort to cover up the truth, with its hands stained with blood. We stand with all members of the press who are working with all their might to make Israel’s cruelty known to the world. We extend our best wishes to the TRT members and the TRT family who were injured in the latest attack.”

August 18, 2024

Salma Al Qaddoumi

Al Qaddoumi, a freelance Palestinian journalist, who works with multiple outlets including the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency, Al Jazeera, and AFP news agency, was injured when an Israeli tank fired towards a group of journalists reporting in the Hamad city area, northwest of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, according to news reports. Freelance journalist Ibrahim Muhareb was also killed in the incident.

The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate posted a description by journalist Rasha Ahmed of the incident. Ahmed said she was one of five journalists on assignment together when a military tank suddenly advanced from the Al-Hawz area in the northwestern part of Hamad city and opened heavy fire on them. Some reporters lay on the ground for more than five minutes due to the intense gunfire, until they were “miraculously” able to get out. Al-Qaddoumi also tried to run, unaware that her back was injured, but fell to the ground. Ahmed and another journalist Saeed Al-Lulu rescued Al-Qaddoumi and found a cart and then a car to transport her to hospital, the PJS report said.

On August 19, Al-Qaddoumi told CPJ by phone that the group of journalists reported from “a place far from the presence of tanks” but “a number of tanks suddenly appeared in the area after filming had ended.”

“The tanks fired shells and bullets at us, and Ibrahim was hit directly. He asked me to help him leave the place, and I went with one of the displaced people in the area to rescue him, but the tanks fired more shells and bullets at us. At that moment, I was hit in the back by two (pieces of) shrapnel, either from the shells or the bullets. I then lost consciousness and found myself in the hospital,” she told CPJ.

Sami Barhoom

Barhoom, a Palestinian correspondent for the Turkish state-owned broadcaster TRT Arabic was injured by shrapnel from Israeli sniper bullets when he and a colleague were reporting in southern Gaza, according to news reports and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.

“I was on a field mission to prepare a report with camera operator Hazem al-Baz about the cemeteries being full and the lack of graves to accommodate the martyrs in the Austrian neighborhood northwest of Khan Yunis,” Barhoom told CPJ by phone. “We finished and headed to another mission near Hamad city, west of Khan Yunis, at exactly 2:00 p.m.”

“Although the car was marked “Press” and “TV” and we were (both) wearing a “Press” jacket and helmet, we were surprised by direct fire on our car … The first shot hit the right door of the car, so I knew it was a targeted attack because the gunfire was hitting the sand very heavily,” he said, referring to the desert sand they were driving over.

“We tried to get out of the car to hide, but as soon as we tried to get out of it, the bullets hit the front window of the car at the level of our heads, and it was clear that the target was to kill,” he said.

Musa, a 20-year-old Palestinian volunteer reporter for the local social media-based Watan Media Agency, was injured by Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

Barhoom said the pair managed to get out of the car, which was hit by five bullets, and took cover in a nearby shelter for an hour until it was safe to leave. In April, Barhoom was one of four journalists injured by Israeli shelling while reporting in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. His TRT Arabic colleague Sami Shehadeh lost a leg in the incident.

Mohammed Abu Musa

“A house in the village of Ma’in in Khan Yunis was targeted by Israeli airstrikes, so I went to cover [it],” he said. “The targeting was repeated again, which resulted in me being injured by shrapnel in my right foot.”

Musa said he was admitted to Nasser Hospital for treatment for nine days.

July 27, 2024

Youssef al-Firani

Al-Firani, a 23-year-old correspondent and director of the local social media-based outlets Watan Media Agency and Al-Quds News Network, was injured by Israeli airstrikes on a school housing displaced people in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah city, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

“The Israeli air force bombed the school gate with four missiles. The intensity of the bombing caused me to fly a distance from where I was standing. I was injured in the head, and I suffered several shrapnel wounds and bruises all over my body, including my back, pelvis, and left knee,” al-Firani told CPJ, adding that he was treated at the city’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and discharged later that day.

July 22, 2024

Mohammed Al Zanin

Al Zanin, a 44-year-old camera operator for the local Palestine Media Production company, was injured by Israeli airstrikes while covering the displacement of people near the southern city of Khan Yunis, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

“I went to cover areas east of Khan Yunis when the Israeli occupation asked its residents to evacuate. At 10:30 a.m., the Israeli Air Force bombed one of the residents’ homes near the Bani Suhaila roundabout while I was covering the displacement operations, which resulted in injury to both my feet,” said Al Zanin, who was himself displaced from northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun earlier in the war.

“The injury was shrapnel in the right and left feet. I was transferred to Nasser Medical Complex, west of the city, where I received treatment. After 28 days, I was treated again and underwent a cleaning operation on my right foot to remove shrapnel. I am still taking painkillers and antibiotics,” he told CPJ on October 15, 2024.

July 20, 2024

Mahmoud Akki

Akki, a 34-year-old Palestinian camera operator for the Qatari-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher, sustained shrapnel injuries in his right arm during an Israeli strike on central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

“After I learned that the Israeli occupation threatened to bomb one of the Ain Jalut Towers in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza on Saturday, I went to the place to cover the shooting. I arrived and set up the camera away from the tower. I had just finished and retreated a little when the Israeli warplanes suddenly bombed the tower,” he told CPJ.

“The shrapnel penetrated my hand and lodged in it, damaging the ligaments and nerves. I am still suffering from it and I am experiencing severe pain,” he told CPJ on October 9, 2024.

Akki said he sought treatment at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah.

“I stayed there for only one day because there was no treatment available and there were not enough beds. In addition, I was supposed to receive physical therapy and painkillers, but I did not receive any because they were not available in the Strip as a result of the war,” he said.

May 21, 2024

Amro Manasrah

Manasrah, a freelance photographer working with the local Palestine Post outlet and the regional Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen broadcaster, was hit in the back by an Israeli  bullet that ricocheted off the wall next to him as he and other journalists were reporting on an Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, according to Palestine PostAl Jazeera, and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

Manasrah, who was wearing a press vest, told CPJ via phone call after he was hospitalized, that the bullet hit a wall next to him and ricocheted, hitting him in the back. Manasrah said that only journalists were in the area and were visible to IDF soldiers. Manasrah was later released from the hospital on the same day.

Journalist Obada Tahayneh, a freelance reporter for Qatari-owned Al Jazeera Mubasher who was at the scene, told CPJ over the phone that “there were approximately 20 journalists present at the scene, only 150 meters away from IDF soldiers. Seven of us moved towards the nearby hospital, when we heard shots fired. We ran and hid next to a wall, and shortly after I saw Manasrah on the ground.” Tahayneh added that he is still “in shock” from being so close to the shooting and witnessing Manasrah’s injury.

April 12, 2024

Sami Shehadeh, cameraman, TRT Arabic injured by an Israeli shell while reporting in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which led to the loss of his right leg.

Sami Barhoom, TRT Arabic reporter, injured by an Israeli shell while reporting in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Ahmad Harb was on duty for Al Arabiya TV at the time of the incident and was injured by the Israeli shell.

CNN stringer Mohammad Al-Sawalhi was struck by shrapnel, resulting in a slight injury to his right hand and bruising on his left leg.

March 31, 2024

Freelance photojournalist Ali Hamad, whose back was hit with missile shrapnel in an attack on Al-Aqsa hospital.

Freelance photojournalist Saeed Jars, whose knee was hit by shrapnel in an attack on Al-Aqsa hospital.

Freelance photojournalist Naaman Shteiwi suffered minor facial injuries in an attack on Al-Aqsa hospital.

Zain Media cameraperson Mohammed Abu Dahrouj was seriously injured in the leg in an attack on Al-Aqsa hospital.

Freelance photojournalist Nafez Abu Labda suffered a leg injury in an attack on Al-Aqsa hospital.

Al-Aqsa photographer Ibrahim Labad suffered leg injuries in an attack on Al-Aqsa hospital.

Al Jazeera photographer Hazem Mazeed, who suffered leg injuries in an attack on Al-Aqsa hospital.

Freelance photojournalist Magdi Qaraqea was also injured in the attack in an attack on Al-Aqsa hospital, according to CPJ sources. Those sources did not specify his injuries.

January 7, 2024

Hazem Rajab, injured by the same strike that killed Mustafa Thuraya and Hamza Al Dahdouh on January 7, 2024.

Amer Abu Amr, injured in an Israeli strike on January 7, 2024, several minutes before the one that killed Thuraya and Al Dahdouh.

Ahmed al-Bursh, injured in an Israeli strike on January 7, 2024, several minutes before the one that killed Thuraya and Al Dahdouh.

December 23, 2023

Khader Marquez

Marquez, a cameraman for Lebanon’s Hezbollah-owned TV channel Al-Manar was injured after shrapnel from an Israeli missile hit his car on the Khardali road of south Lebanon, injuring his left eye, according to Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib, who was with Marquez, posted about the incident on social media, and spoke to the privately-owned Beirut-based Al-Jadeed TV. The incident also was reported by the privately owned Lebanese Annahar newspaper, the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, the National News Agency, and multiple news reports.

December 19, 2023

Islam Bader

Bader, a Palestinian reporter and presenter for the Hamas-funded Al-Aqsa TV channel, and a contributor to multiple media outlets including the Qatari-funded Al-Araby TV, was injured in the right shoulder and hip in an Israeli airstrike on Block 2 of the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, on December 19, according to the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-AwsatAl-Araby TV, and Palestine TV. His colleague Mohamed Ahmed was injured in the same strike. A video posted by Al Jazeera shows the two journalists being treated in Jabalia medical center after the attack. Another video posted by the local Palestine Post website shows Bader and Ahmed lying on the floor of the medical center frowning in pain.

Bader told Al-Araby TV that he was injured by three pieces of shrapnel in his shoulder, and hip.

Bader and Ahmed are among the few journalists still reporting from northern Gaza.

Mohamed Ahmed

Ahmed, a Palestinian reporter for the pro-Hamas Shehab agency and photographer for the Hamas-funded Al-Aqsa TV channel, was injured in the left thigh in an Israeli airstrike on Block 2 of Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, on December 19, according to the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-AwsatAl-Araby TV, and Palestine TV. His colleague Islam Bader was injured in the same strike. A video posted by Al Jazeera shows the two journalists being treated in Jabalia medical center right after their injury. Another video posted by the local Palestine Post website shows Bader and Ahmed lying on the floor of the medical center frowning in pain.

December 16, 2023

Mohamed Balousha

Balousha, a reporter for the Emirati-owned Dubai-based Al Mashahd TV, was shot in the thigh while reporting on the war from northern Gaza on December 16, 2023. According to his outlet Al MashhadAl Jazeera, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the bullet was fired by an Israeli sniper. Balousha said in a video about his injury that he lost consciousness for about 30 minutes after “six hours of agony” and was roused by the nuzzling of cats he was feeding before the shooting. Al Mashhad said that Israeli forces intercepted the ambulances sent to evacuate him, delaying his transfer to a hospital for treatment.

In late November, Balousha broke a story that four premature babies left behind at al-Nasr Children’s Hospital died and their bodies had decomposed after Israel forced the staff to evacuate without ambulances. Balousha accused Israel of directly targeting him. “I was wearing everything to prove that I was a journalist, but they deliberately targeted me, and now I am struggling to get the treatment necessary to preserve my life,” he told The Washington Post.

December 15, 2023

Wael Al Dahdouh

The Gaza bureau chief for Al Jazeera, Al Dahdouh was injured by a drone strike while covering the aftermath of nightly Israeli strikes on a UN school sheltering displaced people in the center of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, according to reports by their Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, and Reuters. Dahdoh was hit with shrapnel in his hand and waist and treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. His colleague, camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed in the same strike.

Mustafa Alkharouf

Alkharouf, a photographer with the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency, was covering Friday prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on December 15 when a group of Israeli police and soldiers attacked him, according to Anadolu Agency, footage shared by The Union of Journalists in Israel, and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA. Soldiers initially brandished their weapons at Alkharouf, punched him, and then threw him to the ground, kicking him. Alkharouf sustained severe blows, resulting in injuries to his face and body, and was transported by ambulance and treated at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.

November 18, 2023

Mohamed Al Sawaf

Mohamed Al Sawaf, an award-winning Palestinian film producer and director who founded the Gaza-based Alef Multimedia production company, was injured in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Shawa Square in Gaza City. The airstrike killed 30 members of his family, including his mother and his father, Mostafa Al Sawaf, who was also a journalist, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ SyndicateAnadolu Agency, and TRT Arabic.

Montaser Al Sawaf

Montaser Al Sawaf, a Palestinian freelance photographer contributing to Anadolu Agency, was injured in the same Israeli airstrike that injured his brother, Mohamed Al Sawaf and killed their parents and 28 other family members, according to the Anadolu Agency, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and TRT Arabic.

November 13, 2023

Issam Mawassi

Al Jazeera videographer Mawassi was injured after two Israeli missiles struck near journalists in Yaroun in southern Lebanon covering clashes, which also resulted in damage to the journalists’ cars in the area, according to multiple media reports, some of which show the journalists live on air the minute the second missile hit the area. CPJ reached out to Mawassi via a messaging app but didn’t receive any response.

October 13, 2023

Thaer Al-Sudani

Al-Sudani, a journalist for Reuters, was injured in the same attack that killed Abdallah near the border in southern Lebanon, Reuters said.

Maher Nazeh

Nazeh, a journalist for Reuters, was also injured in the same southern Lebanon attack.

Elie Brakhya

Brakhya, an Al Jazeera TV staff member, was injured as well in the southern Lebanon shelling, Al Jazeera TV said.

Carmen Joukhadar

Joukhadar, an Al Jazeera TV reporter, was also wounded in the southern Lebanon attack.

Christina Assi

Assi, a photographer for the French news agency Agence France-Press (AFP), was injured in that same attack on southern Lebanon, according to AFP and France 24.

Dylan Collins

Dylan Collins, a video journalist for AFP, was also injured in the southern Lebanon shelling.

October 7, 2023

Ibrahim Qanan

Qanan, a correspondent for Al-Ghad channel, was injured by shrapnel in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to MADA and JSC.

MISSING

October 7, 2023

Nidal Al-Wahidi

Nidal Al-Wahidi, a cameraman and photographer in Gaza for the Nablus-based Palestinian broadcaster An-Najah Nbc Channel, went missing near the Erez crossing, known in Gaza as the Beit Hanoun crossing, while reporting on Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 according to news reports, the Palestinian press freedom organization MADA, and a video interview with his father, Suhail Al-Wahidi, on Qatari-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher.

On assignment? Yes

Haitham Abdelwahid

Haitham Abdelwahid, a cameraman and video editor for Ain Media, a Gaza production company, went missing near the Erez crossing, known locally as the Beit Hanoun crossing, while reporting on Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to news reports, his employer, and the Palestinian press freedom organization MADA.

On assignment? Yes

Clarifications and corrections:

*Definition of a journalistCPJ’s research and documentation covers all journalists, defined as individuals involved in news-gathering activity. This definition covers those working for a broad range of publicly and privately funded news outlets, as well as freelancers. In the cases CPJ has documented, multiple sources have found no evidence to date that any journalist was engaged in militant activity.

CPJ’s global database of killed journalists and media workers includes only those confirmed to have been killed in connection with their work or where it is unclear whether their death was work-related (motive unconfirmed.) Our research is ongoing and we remove names from our list if we determine that a person either was incorrectly identified as a journalist or could not have been working at the time of their death.    

CPJ has removed a Palestinian man, Mohamed Khaireddine, from its database. Khaireddine was previously identified as a journalist, but his family later clarified that he was neither a journalist nor a media support worker.  

CPJ has removed six other Palestinian journalists from its database that were found not to be journalists or media workers: Bahaa Okasha, Salma Mkhaimar, Ahmed Fatima, Mohamed Al Jaja, Assaad Shamallakh, and Mohamed Fayez Abu Matar. 

CPJ has removed two Israeli journalists, Shai Regev and Ayelet Arnin, from its database after their outlets confirmed that the journalists were not on assignment to cover the music festival, nor were they in a position to begin reporting on the attack by Hamas militants that killed them on October 7. CPJ’s global database of killed journalists includes only those who have been killed in connection with their work or where there is still some doubt that their death was work-related.

After receiving reports that Palestinian journalist and presenter Alaa Taher Al-Hassanat may have survived the attack thought to have killed her, CPJ has removed her name from its database pending further investigation.

On February 6, 2024, Canadian-Palestinian journalist Mansour Shouman was found alive after being reported missing more than two weeks before. We have removed him from our list of missing journalists.

According to CPJ’s research, Israeli journalist Oded Lifschitz wasn’t working when he was taken as a hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023. CPJ removed his name from the list of missing journalists after contacting the family.

This text has been updated to add detail about the funding of Al-Aqsa TV channel and the editorial stance of Shehab agency.

On March 13, 2024, the database numbers were updated to subtract a casualty that did not occur in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory

[2B]

ALJAZEERA
TARGETING HUMANITARIANS? MORE AID WORKERS KILLIED
IN 2024 THEN EVER
25 NOVEMBER 2024

More aid workers have been killed in 2024 than in any other year on record, the United Nations has said.

At least 281 aid workers have been killed across 19 countries, surpassing the previous record of 280 aid workers killed in 2023, according to data from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWDS).

Nearly two-thirds (178) of humanitarian workers killed were in Palestine. Israel killed 175 aid workers in Gaza and three in the occupied West Bank.

Since October 7, 2023, at least 333 humanitarian workers in Gaza have been killed in Israeli attacks, according to the UN.

The lifesaving work aid workers do

Aid workers, also called humanitarian workers, are critical in delivering life-saving assistance to communities affected by crises such as conflicts, natural disasters or poverty.

They distribute food, provide shelter, offer medical care, ensure access to clean water and sanitation, and deliver other essential crisis management services.

Humanitarian workers usually work with not-for-profit organisations, including UN agencies, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), as well as international and national nongovernmental organisations (NGOs).

The majority of aid workers are local staff who play a central role in delivering assistance, supported by international workers who provide additional expertise and resources.

In Gaza, most aid workers are employed by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Since October 7, at least 243 of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff members have been killed – one out of every 50 employees – the highest staff death toll in UN history.

Threats to aid workers worldwide

Outside Palestine, at least 103 aid workers have been killed this year, including 25 in Sudan, 11 in Ukraine and 11 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

“They show the best interest humanity has to offer. And they are getting killed, in record numbers, in return,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters on Friday at a briefing in Geneva.

“States and parties to conflict must protect humanitarians, uphold international law, prosecute those responsible and call time on this era of impunity,” Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator concluded.

END

THE GUARDIAN
PRESS FREEDOM GROUPS CONDEMN KILLING OF TWO JOURNALISTS
IN ISRAELI STRIKES
25 MARCH 2025
Israel Defense Forces has confirmed it killed Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour, claiming they were terrorists

Press freedom organisations have condemned the killing of two journalists in Gaza on Monday, who died in separate targeted airstrikes by the Israeli armed forces.

Hossam Shabat, a 23-year-old correspondent for the Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, was killed by an airstrike on his car in the eastern part of Beit Lahiya.

Video reportedly from minutes after the airstrike, which has not been verified by the Guardian, shows people gathering around the shattered and smoking car and pulling a body out of the wreckage.

Mohammed Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, was also killed on Monday, reportedly along with his wife and son, in an airstrike on his home in south Khan Younis.

In the hours after the deaths, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Palestinian press freedom organisations released statements condemning the attacks.

“CPJ is appalled that we are once again seeing Palestinians weeping over the bodies of dead journalists in Gaza,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program

“This nightmare in Gaza has to end. The international community must act fast to ensure that journalists are kept safe and hold Israel to account for the deaths of Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour. Journalists are civilians and it is illegal to attack them in a war zone.”

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had targeted and killed Shabat and Mansour and labelled them as terrorists. The IDF said it had “eliminated the terrorist Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat, a sniper terrorist from the Beit Hanoun Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organisation, who cynically posed as an Al Jazeera journalist.”

The IDF said it had documentation exposing Shabat’s “direct affiliation with the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organisation”.

The IDF also said that it had struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in Khan Younis, where Mohammed Mansour was killed.

In October 2024, the IDF had accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists working for Al Jazeera in Gaza of being members of the militant arm of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Al Jazeera and Shabat denied Israel’s claims, with Shabat stating in an interview with the CPJ that “we are civilians … Our only crime is that we convey the image and the truth.”

The CPJ has previously denounced the Israeli authorities for the “smearing of killed Palestinian journalists with unsubstantiated ‘terrorist’ labels”.

In its statement condemning the deaths of Shabat and Mansour, the CPJ again called on Israel to “stop making unsubstantiated allegations to justify its killing and mistreatment of members of the press”.

The CPJ estimates that more than 170 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the organisation began gathering data in 1992.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says it believes the number is higher and, with the deaths of Shabat and Mansour, 208 journalists and other members of the press have been killed over the course of the conflict.

Under international law, journalists are protected civilians who must not be targeted by warring parties.

Hours after his death, Shabat’s team posted a message on X, written by the journalist to be published in the event of his death.

“I documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they tried to bury. I slept on pavements, in schools, in tents – anywhere I could. Each day was a battle for survival,” he wrote. “I endured hunger for months, yet I never left my people’s side … I fulfilled my duty as a journalist. I risked everything to report the truth, and now, I am finally at rest – something I haven’t known in the past 18 months … for the last time, Hossam Shabat, from northern Gaza.”

END

CPJ

CPJ DENOUNCES ISRAEL’S SMEARING OF

KILLED PALESTINIAN JOURNALISTS WITH

UNSUBSTANTIATED ”TERRORIST” LABELS

14 AUGUST 2024

https://cpj.org/2024/08/cpj-denounces-israels-smearing-of-killed-palestinian-journalists-with-unsubstantiated-terrorist-labels/

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Israel to stop making unproven claims that journalists slain by its forces are terrorists or engaging in militant activity, and demands international, swift, and independent investigations into these killings.

“Even before the start of the Israel-Gaza war, CPJ had documented Israel’s pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without producing credible evidence to substantiate their claims,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna. “Smear campaigns endanger journalists and erode public trust in the media. Israel must end this practice and allow independent international investigations into the journalists’ killings.”

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, Israel has used questionable and sometimes contradictory evidence to label at least three journalists killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as members or suspected members of militant organizations. Before the war, CPJ’s 2023 “Deadly Pattern” report also detailed examples of five unsubstantiated claims of terrorism or militant activity against journalists killed by Israeli forces between 2004 and 2018.

Those labeled by Israel include:

  • Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al Ghoul, killed along with freelance camera operator Rami Al Refee near Gaza City by an Israeli drone strike on July 31, 2024. The IDF alleges that Al Ghoul was an engineer in the Hamas Gaza Brigade and a member of Hamas’s Nukhba special forces who had taken part in the deadly Hamas October 7 raid that started the Israel-Gaza war. The Israel Defense Forces published a documentwhich they said was a record of Hamas’ military activity from 2021 discovered on a Hamas computer—as proof of their accusations.

Al Jazeera has refuted all accusations against Al Ghoul. The outlet questioned the authenticity of the IDF-produced document, which contained contradictory information showing that  Al Ghoul, born in 1997, received a Hamas military ranking in 2007—when he would have been 10 years old. The document also indicated that Al Ghoul joined Hamas’ military wing in 2014, at the age of 17.

Al Jazeera also pointed out that the IDF released Al Ghoul after detaining him during the army’s March 18, 2024, raid on Al-Shifa hospital, which Al Jazeera said disproved the IDF’s “false claim of his affiliation with any organization.” The IDF did not respond to a Washington Post question about why it cleared Al Ghoul for release at that time.

The IDF statement did not address the killing of Al Refee, and its North America Desk has not responded to CPJ’s request for comment on Al Refee and why they released Al Ghoul after the Al-Shifa raid.

On August 6, U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan denounced Israel’s “deliberate targeting” of the two journalists and urged the International Criminal Court to move swiftly to prosecute the killings of journalists in Gaza as a war crime. “The Israeli military seems to be making accusations without any substantive evidence as a licence to kill journalists, which is in total contravention of international humanitarian law,” said Khan.

  • Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Al Dahdouh and freelancer Mustafa Thuraya, killed in an Israeli strike on January 7, 2024. Israel alleged that they were terrorists operating a drone “posing a threat” to IDF soldiers. A Washington Post analysis of their drone footage from that day found “no indications that either man was operating as anything other than a journalist that day.” The available footage shows that the journalists did not film any IDF troops, aircraft, or military equipment, nor were there any indications of IDF troops in the vicinity of the area they filmed.

The Washington Post investigation also noted that both journalists passed through Israeli checkpoints on their way to the south early in the war and that Dahdouh had been approved to leave Gaza—“a rare privilege unlikely to have been granted to a known militant.”

  • Yaser Murtaja, a photojournalist for Gaza-based media production company Ain Media killed by Israeli fire in 2018, was labeled by then-Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman as “a member of the military arm of Hamas who holds a rank parallel to that of captain, who was active in Hamas for many years”—a claim repeated on Twitter, now called X, by two spokespeople for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, Liberman never provided evidence, and The Washington Post reported that Murtaja had been vetted by the U.S. government to receive a U.S. Agency for International Development grant to support Ain Media.
  • Hussam Salama and Mahmoud al-Kumi, camera operators for Al-Aqsa TV killed in 2012, were said by Israel to be “Hamas operatives.” A Human Rights Watch investigation found no proof that the two were militants, noting that Hamas did not publish their names in its list of fighters killed. After CPJ called for evidence to justify the attack, the spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., responded two months later with a letter accusing Al-Aqsa TV of “glorifying death and advocating violence and murder.”
  • Hamid Shihab, a driver for the Gaza-based press agency Media 24, was said by Israel to have been transporting weapons in a car marked “TV” when he was killed in an IDF airstrike in 2014. The IDF provided no evidence that Shihab was a member of Hamas, saying that “in light of the military use made of the vehicle for the purposes of transporting weaponry, the marking of the vehicle did not alter the lawfulness of the strike.”
  • Mohamed Abu Halima, a student journalist for a radio station at Nablus’ An-Najah National University, was fatally shot by Israeli forces in 2004. Israel said he had opened fire on Israeli forces, but Abu Halima’s producer said that he was on the phone with the journalist moments before he was shot, and Abu Halima had been simply describing the scene around him.

In the current war, CPJ has documented the killings of 113 journalists and media workers as of August 14, 2024. A total of 111—109 Palestinians and two Lebanese journalists—have been killed by Israeli forces, while two Israeli journalists were killed by Hamas in their October 7 raid into Israel.

CPJ calls for independent access to Gaza, investigations, an end to smears

CPJ has repeatedly called on Israel to end its ban on international journalists traveling independently into Gaza—an obstruction that hinders reporting on the war and investigations into the killing of Palestinian journalists.

CPJ now also calls on Israel to:

  • Immediately stop its long-standing practice of labeling journalists as terrorists or engaging in militant activity, without providing sufficient and reliable evidence to support these claims, as a means of justifying its targeted killing and wider mistreatment of journalists and media workers.
  • Retract claims if it cannot substantiate accusations that journalists were involved in terrorist/militant activities.

CPJ also calls on the international community to condemn Israel’s smear campaign against journalists and to ensure that allegations of war crimes or international human rights abuses committed against journalists are investigated in accordance with internationally accepted practices, such as the Minnesota Protocol. The protocol establishes that under international law, the duty to investigate a potentially unlawful death entails an obligation that the investigation be prompt; effective and thorough; independent and impartial; and transparent.

(Editor’s note: The 13th paragraph of this statement has been updated to clarify the source of the allegations against Hamid Shihab.)

  • The Israeli military’s repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport are further destroying Gaza’s healthcare system and should be investigated as war crimes.”

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCHGAZA: UNLAWFUL ISRAELI HOSPITAL STRIKESWORSEN HEALTH CRISIS

Israel’s Blockade, Bombardment Decimate Healthcare System; Investigate as War Crimes

14 NOVEMBER 2023

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/14/gaza-unlawful-israeli-hospital-strikes-worsen-health-crisis

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST NOOT 22 UIT EEN ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-21-en-22-astrid-essed-weer-ten-strijde-tegen-nos-teletekst/

”Vlak na het uitbreken van de oorlog, op 7 oktober, riep het Israëlische leger de Gazanen op het noorden van de Gazastrook te verlaten. Veel van hen trokken naar de stad Khan Younis. Deze week werd ook die voormalige ‘veilige plek’ onderdeel van het strijdtoneel.

NOS

85 PROCENT VAN DE MENSEN IN GAZA IS OPDE VLUCHT, MAAR NERGENS IS HET VEILIG

9 DECEMBER 2023

https://nos.nl/collectie/13959/artikel/2500932-85-procent-van-de-mensen-in-gaza-is-op-de-vlucht-maar-nergens-is-het-veilig

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST, NOOT 24 UIT ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noten-23-en-24-astrid-essed-weer-ten-strijde-tegen-nos-teletekst/

[3]

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EN HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH OVER HET

ISRAELISCHE APARTHEIDSREGIME

https://www.astridessed.nl/amnesty-international-en-human-rights-watch-over-het-israelische-apartheidsregime/


[4]

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION CONCLUDES ISRAEL

IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA
5 DECEMBER 2024

Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the organization said in a landmark new report published today.

The report, ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, documents how, during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity.

“Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.

“States that continue to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know they are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide. All states with influence over Israel, particularly key arms suppliers like the USA and Germany, but also other EU member states, the UK and others, must act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end.”

Over the past two months the crisis has grown particularly acute in the North Gaza governorate, where a besieged population is facing starvation, displacement and annihilation amid relentless bombardment and suffocating restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.

“Our research reveals that, for months, Israel has persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza. It continued to do so in defiance of countless warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and of legally binding decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel to take immediate measures to enable the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” said Agnès Callamard.

“Israel has repeatedly argued that its actions in Gaza are lawful and can be justified by its military goal to eradicate Hamas. But genocidal intent can co-exist alongside military goals and does not need to be Israel’s sole intent.”

Amnesty International examined Israel’s acts in Gaza closely and in their totality, taking into account their recurrence and simultaneous occurrence, and both their immediate impact and their cumulative and mutually reinforcing consequences. The organization considered the scale and severity of the casualties and destruction over time. It also analysed public statements by officials, finding that prohibited acts were often announced or called for in the first place by high-level officials in charge of the war efforts.

“Taking into account the pre-existing context of dispossession, apartheid and unlawful military occupation in which these acts have been committed, we could find only one reasonable conclusion: Israel’s intent is the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, whether in parallel with, or as a means to achieve, its military goal of destroying Hamas,” said Agnès Callamard.

“The atrocity crimes committed on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and other armed groups against Israelis and victims of other nationalities, including deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking, can never justify Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

International jurisprudence recognizes that the perpetrator does not need to succeed in their attempts to destroy the protected group, either in whole or in part, for genocide to have been committed. The commission of prohibited acts with the intent to destroy the group, as such, is sufficient.

Amnesty International’s report examines in detail Israel’s violations in Gaza over nine months between 7 October 2023 and early July 2024. The organization interviewed 212 people, including Palestinian victims and witnesses, local authorities in Gaza, healthcare workers, conducted fieldwork and analysed an extensive range of visual and digital evidence, including satellite imagery. It also analysed statements by senior Israeli government and military officials, and official Israeli bodies. On multiple occasions, the organization shared its findings with the Israeli authorities but had received no substantive response at the time of publication.

Unprecedented scale and magnitude

Israel’s actions following Hamas’s deadly attacks on 7 October 2023 have brought Gaza’s population to the brink of collapse. Its brutal military offensive had killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, including over 13,300 children, and injured over 97,000 more, by 7 October 2024, many of them in direct or deliberately indiscriminate attacks, often wiping out entire multigenerational families. It has caused unprecedented destruction, which experts say occurred at a level and speed not seen in any other conflict in the 21st century, levelling entire cities and destroying critical infrastructure, agricultural land and cultural and religious sites. It thereby rendered large swathes of Gaza uninhabitable.

Mohammed, who fled with his family from Gaza City to Rafah in March 2024 and was displaced again in May 2024, described their struggle to survive in horrifying conditions:

“Here in Deir al-Balah, it’s like an apocalypse… You have to protect your children from insects, from the heat, and there is no clean water, no toilets, all while the bombing never stops. You feel like you are subhuman here.”

Israel imposed conditions of life in Gaza that created a deadly mixture of malnutrition, hunger and diseases, and exposed Palestinians to a slow, calculated death. Israel also subjected hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza to incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment.

Viewed in isolation, some of the acts investigated by Amnesty International constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law. But in looking at the broader picture of Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion.

Intent to destroy

To establish Israel’s specific intent to physically destroy Palestinians in Gaza, as such, Amnesty International analysed the overall pattern of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, reviewed dehumanizing and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials, particularly those at the highest levels, and considered the context of Israel’s system of apartheid, its inhumane blockade of Gaza and the unlawful 57-year-old military occupation of the Palestinian territory.

Before reaching its conclusion, Amnesty International examined Israel’s claims that its military lawfully targeted Hamas and other armed groups throughout Gaza, and that the resulting unprecedented destruction and denial of aid were the outcome of unlawful conduct by Hamas and other armed groups, such as locating fighters among the civilian population or the diversion of aid. The organization concluded these claims are not credible. The presence of Hamas fighters near or within a densely populated area does not absolve Israel from its obligations to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. Its research found Israel repeatedly failed to do so, committing multiple crimes under international law for which there can be no justification based on Hamas’s actions. Amnesty International also found no evidence that the diversion of aid could explain Israel’s extreme and deliberate restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.

In its analysis, the organization also considered alternative arguments such as ones that Israel was acting recklessly or that it simply wanted to destroy Hamas and did not care if it needed to destroy Palestinians in the process, demonstrating a callous disregard for their lives rather than genocidal intent.

Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International

However, regardless of whether Israel sees the destruction of Palestinians as instrumental to destroying Hamas or as an acceptable by-product of this goal, this view of Palestinians as disposable and not worthy of consideration is in itself evidence of genocidal intent.

Many of the unlawful acts documented by Amnesty International were preceded by officials urging their implementation. The organization reviewed 102 statements that were issued by Israeli government and military officials and others between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2024 and dehumanized Palestinians, called for or justified genocidal acts or other crimes against them.

Of these, Amnesty International identified 22 statements made by senior officials in charge of managing the offensive that appeared to call for, or justify, genocidal acts, providing direct evidence of genocidal intent. This language was frequently replicated, including by Israeli soldiers on the ground, as evidenced by audiovisual content verified by Amnesty International showing soldiers making calls to “erase” Gaza or to make it uninhabitable, and celebrating the destruction of Palestinian homes, mosques, schools and universities.

Killing and causing serious bodily or mental harm

Amnesty International documented the genocidal acts of killing and causing serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinians in Gaza by reviewing the results of investigations it conducted into 15 air strikes between 7 October 2023 and 20 April 2024 that killed at least 334 civilians, including 141 children, and wounded hundreds of others. Amnesty International found no evidence that any of these strikes were directed at a military objective.

In one illustrative case, on 20 April 2024, an Israeli air strike destroyed the Abdelal family house in the Al-Jneinah neighbourhood in eastern Rafah, killing three generations of Palestinians, including 16 children, while they were sleeping.

While these represent just a fraction of Israel’s aerial attacks, they are indicative of a broader pattern of repeated direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects or deliberately indiscriminate attacks. The attacks were also conducted in ways designed to cause a very high number of fatalities and injuries among the civilian population.

Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction

The report documents how Israel deliberately inflicted conditions of life on Palestinians in Gaza intended to lead, over time, to their destruction. These conditions were imposed through three simultaneous patterns that repeatedly compounded the effect of each other’s devastating impacts: damage to and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure and other objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population; the repeated use of sweeping, arbitrary and confusing mass “evacuation” orders to forcibly displace almost all of Gaza’s population; and the denial and obstruction of the delivery of essential services, humanitarian assistance and other life-saving supplies into and within Gaza.

After 7 October 2023, Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza cutting off electricity, water and fuel. In the nine months reviewed for this report, Israel maintained a suffocating, unlawful blockade, tightly controlled access to energy sources, failed to facilitate meaningful humanitarian access within Gaza,  and obstructed the import and delivery of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid, particularly to areas north of Wadi Gaza. They thereby exacerbated an already existing humanitarian crisis. This, combined with the extensive damage to Gaza’s homes, hospitals, water and sanitation facilities and agricultural land, and mass forced displacement, caused catastrophic levels of hunger and led to the spread of diseases at alarming rates. The impact was especially harsh on young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women, with anticipated long-term consequences for their health.

The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International

Time and again, Israel had the chance to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, yet for over a year it has repeatedly refused to take steps blatantly within its power to do so, such as opening sufficient access points to Gaza or lifting tight restrictions on what could enter the Strip  or their obstruction of aid deliveries within Gaza while the situation has grown progressively worse.

Through its repeated “evacuation” orders Israel displaced nearly 1.9 million Palestinians – 90% of Gaza’s population – into ever-shrinking, unsafe pockets of land under inhumane conditions, some of them up to 10 times. These multiple waves of forced displacement left many jobless and deeply traumatized, especially since some 70% of Gaza’s residents are refugees or descendants of refugees whose towns and villages were ethnically cleansed by Israel during the 1948 Nakba.

Despite conditions quickly becoming unfit for human life, Israeli authorities refused to consider measures that would have protected displaced civilians and ensured their basic needs were met, showing that their actions were deliberate.

They refused to allow those displaced to return to their homes in northern Gaza or relocate temporarily to other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory or Israel, continuing to deny many Palestinians their right to return under international law to areas they were displaced from in 1948. They did so knowing that there was nowhere safe for Palestinians in Gaza to flee to.

Accountability for genocide

“The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience,” said Agnès Callamard.

“Governments must stop pretending they are powerless to end this genocide, which was enabled by decades of impunity for Israel’s violations of international law. States need to move beyond mere expressions of regret or dismay and take strong and sustained international action, however uncomfortable a finding of genocide may be for some of Israel’s allies.

“The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity issued last month offer real hope of long-overdue justice for victims. States must demonstrate their respect for the court’s decision and for universal international law principles by arresting and handing over those wanted by the ICC.

“We are calling on the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently consider adding genocide to the list of crimes it is investigating and for all states to use every legal avenue to bring perpetrators to justice. No one should be allowed to commit genocide and remain unpunished.”

Amnesty International is also calling for all civilian hostages to be released unconditionally and for Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups responsible for the crimes committed on 7 October to be held to account.

The organization is also calling for the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against Israeli and Hamas officials most implicated in crimes under international law.

Background

On 7 October 2023 Hamas and other armed groups indiscriminately fired rockets into southern Israel and carried out deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking there, killing 1,200 people, including over 800 civilians, and abducted 223 civilians and captured 27 soldiers. The crimes perpetrated by Hamas and other armed groups during this attack will be the focus of a forthcoming Amnesty International report.

Since October 2023, Amnesty International has conducted in-depth investigations into the multiple violations and crimes under international law committed by Israeli forces, including direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects and deliberately indiscriminate attacks killing hundreds of civilians, as well as other unlawful attacks on and collective punishment of the civilian population. The organization has called on the Office of the ICC Prosecutor to expedite its investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine and is campaigning for an immediate ceasefire.

END

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

ISRAEL/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY: ”YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE
SUBHUMAN”: ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA
5 DECEMBER 2024
This report documents Israel’s actions during its offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip from 7 October 2023. It examines the killing of civilians, damage to and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcible displacement, the obstruction or denial of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid, and the restriction of power supplies. It analyses Israel’s intent through this pattern of conduct and statements by Israeli decision-makers. It concludes that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
A stand-alone executive summary is available in English and other languages: ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza: Executive Summary (Index: MDE 15/8744/2024).
REPORT
”‘YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE SUBHUMAN’ ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA”
DECEMBER 2024
file:///C:/Users/Astrid/Downloads/MDE1586682024ENGLISH%20(3).pdf
CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF
THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE
  The Contracting Parties ,
Having considered the declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 96 (I) dated 11 December 1946 that genocide is a crime under international law, contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by the civilized world,
  Recognizing that at all periods of history genocide has inflicted great losses on humanity, and
Being convinced that, in order to liberate mankind from such an odious scourge, international co-operation is required,
Hereby agree as hereinafter provided
  Article I
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
  (a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III
The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.
Article IV
Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
Article V
The Contracting Parties undertake to enact, in accordance with their respective Constitutions, the necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the present Convention, and, in particular, to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III.
Article VI
Persons charged with genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be tried by a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed, or by such international penal tribunal as may have jurisdiction with respect to those Contracting Parties which shall have accepted its jurisdiction.
  Article VII
Genocide and the other acts enumerated in article III shall not be considered as political crimes for the purpose of extradition.
The Contracting Parties pledge themselves in such cases to grant extradition in accordance with their laws and treaties in force.
Article VIII
Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III.
Article IX
Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfilment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.
Article X
The present Convention, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall bear the date of 9 December 1948.
Article XI
The present Convention shall be open until 31 December 1949 for signature on behalf of any Member of the United Nations and of any non-member State to which an invitation to sign has been addressed by the General Assembly.
  The present Convention shall be ratified, and the instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
After 1 January 1950, the present Convention may be acceded to on behalf of any Member of the United Nations and of any non-member State which has received an invitation as aforesaid.
  Instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Article XII
Any Contracting Party may at any time, by notification addressed to the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, extend the application of the present Convention to all or any of the territories for the conduct of whose foreign relations that Contracting Party is responsible.
Article XIII
On the day when the first twenty instruments of ratification or accession have been deposited, the Secretary-General shall draw up a procès-verbal and transmit a copy thereof to each Member of the United Nations and to each of the non-member States contemplated in article XI.
  The present Convention shall come into force on the ninetieth day following the date of deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession.
Any ratification or accession effected subsequent to the latter date shall become effective on the ninetieth day following the deposit of the instrument of ratification or accession.
  Article XIV
The present Convention shall remain in effect for a period of ten years as from the date of its coming into force.
  It shall thereafter remain in force for successive periods of five years for such Contracting Parties as have not denounced it at least six months before the expiration of the current period.
Denunciation shall be effected by a written notification addressed to the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations.
Article XV
If, as a result of denunciations, the number of Parties to the present Convention should become less than sixteen, the Convention shall cease to be in force as from the date on which the last of these denunciations shall become effective.
Article XVI
A request for the revision of the present Convention may be made at any time by any Contracting Party by means of a notification in writing addressed to the SecretaryGeneral.
  The General Assembly shall decide upon the steps, if any, to be taken in respect of such request.
Article XVII
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall notify all Members of the United Nations and the non-member States contemplated in article XI of the following:
(a) Signatures, ratifications and accessions received in accordance with article XI;
  (b)
Notifications received in accordance with article XII;
(c) The date upon which the present Convention comes into force in accordance with article XIII;
(d) Denunciations received in accordance with article XIV;
(e) The abrogation of the Convention in accordance with article XV;
(f) Notifications received in accordance with article XVI
  Article XVIII
The original of the present Convention shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations.
  A certified copy of the Convention shall be transmitted to each Member of the United Nations and to each of the non-member States contemplated in article XI.
Article XIX
The present Convention shall be registered by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the date of its coming into force.
ISRAEL HEEFT HET GENOCIDEVERDRAG GERATIFICEERD!
ZIE
 Israel 17 Aug 1949 9 Mar 1950 Ratification
BRON
WIKIPEDIA
LIST OF PARTIES TO THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION/RATIFIED OR ACCEDED STATES
ORIGINELE BRON
WIKIPEDIA
LIST OF PARTIES TO THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION
[5]

TROUW

NETANYAHU BLAAST BESTAND OP: ”DEZE AANVALLEN ZIJN NOG
MAAR HET BEGIN.”
18 MAART 2025
Israël zal de aanvallen op Hamas alleen nog maar verder opvoeren, zei premier Netanyahu dinsdagavond. In Gaza vielen dinsdag vele honderden doden door Israëlische luchtaanvallen.
Het staakt-het-vuren tussen Israël en Hamas, dat nog geen twee maanden van kracht was, is dinsdagochtend door Israël verbrijzeld met een vernietigende reeks bombardementen op Gaza. Daarbij zijn honderden Palestijnen gedood.

De Israëlische premier Netanyahu liet dinsdagavond weten dat Israël ‘de strijd tegen Hamas heeft hervat’ en de aanvallen alleen nog maar verder zal opvoeren. “De afgelopen dag heeft Hamas de macht van onze wapens gevoeld”, zei Netanyahu. De aanvallen “zijn nog maar het begin”. Volgens de premier zet Israël de oorlog in Gaza voort totdat “Hamas geen dreiging meer vormt” voor Israël en tot “alle gijzelaars” terug zijn.

Voor Palestijnen was dinsdag een van de bloedigste dagen van de laatste achttien maanden – de lokale gezondheidsautoriteiten melden dat er zeker 404 doden en 562 gewonden bij verschillende ziekenhuizen zijn binnengebracht. Hamas zegt dat het besluit van Netanyahu om te bombarderen het staakt-het-vuren nu ‘omvergeworpen’ heeft.

Het bestand was altijd al broos, maar waarom heeft Netanyahu ervoor gekozen het juist nu op te blazen? Het is goed om te bedenken dat er altijd al serieuze twijfels waren over de oprechtheid van de Israëlische premier bij het implementeren van het akkoord, vertelt Yossi Mekelberg, internationaal expert bij denktank Chatham House.

“We hebben alsmaar gezien dat er vanuit Netanyahu en zijn regering geen wil is om de oorlog te beëindigen”, aldus Mekelberg. Het definitief beëindigen van de oorlog moest volgens de oorspronkelijke afspraken tussen Israël en Hamas uiteindelijk op tafel komen.

Groen licht om de oorlog te hervatten

Dat idee is niet populair binnen de regering. “Toen Trump wilde dat Netanyahu akkoord ging met het staakt-het-vuren, deed hij dat wel”, zegt Mekelberg. “Maar nu het erop lijkt dat Trump weer van gedachten is veranderd – en we raken eraan gewend dat hij constant van gedachten verandert – zag Netanyahu dat het licht voor hem op groen stond om de oorlog te hervatten.” Die kans heeft hij nu met beide handen aangegrepen. “Het dient zijn doel om politiek te overleven.”

Netanyahu’s keuze het bestand definitief te torpederen – wat in één dag al honderden mensenlevens heeft gekost – heeft voor zijn eigen politieke positie inderdaad goed uitgepakt, in ieder geval voorlopig. Zo moest hij dinsdag voor de rechter verschijnen in zijn corruptieproces, maar werd dit geschrapt omdat hij bij een ‘urgent veiligheidsoverleg’ moest zijn. Ook is een hernieuwd offensief een afleiding van alle ophef rondom het besluit van de premier dit weekend om het hoofd van de geheime dienst te ontslaan.

Maar misschien nog wel het belangrijkste, is Netanyahu’s kans de extreemrechtse minister Itamar Ben-Gvir terug in zijn coalitie te verwelkomen. Die stapte na het ingaan van het staakt-het-vuren uit protest op. Maar nu er weer op grote schaal gebombardeerd wordt, kondigde hij aan terug te willen keren.

Dat komt Netanyahu goed uit, want voor het einde van de maand moet er gestemd worden over de begroting en daarbij moet hij zeker weten dat Ben-Gvir in zijn kamp zit. Als de begroting er niet doorheen komt, dan valt de regering.

‘Nog ergere humanitaire ramp’

Of Netanyahu’s dreigementen ook werkelijkheid worden, zal moeten blijken. “Maar mijn angst is dat we terugkeren naar oorlog”, zegt Mekelberg. “Met het doel Hamas uit te schakelen. Waarbij tegelijkertijd – zoals we de afgelopen achttien maanden ook zagen – een nog ergere humanitaire ramp wordt gecreëerd voor de bevolking van Gaza”.

Daarnaast is er de discussie, aangespoord door Trump, over het gedwongen verplaatsen van de bevolking. “Er is gepraat over het verhuizen van de Palestijnen naar Jordanië, naar Egypte, of zelfs naar Oost-Afrika. De vraag of wat nu gebeurt het begin is van een of ander groter plan, dat is ook een echte zorg.”

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[6]

ISRAELISCHE BLOKKADE VAN GAZA LICHTJES VERSOEPELD, MAAR
”BESTAND BLIJFT WANKEL” WAARSCHUWT DE VN
25 JUNI 2021
Vanaf vandaag krijgen Palestijnse vissers in Gaza iets meer ruimte op zee. Van het Israëlische leger mogen de Palestijnen nu tot 16 km voor de kust van Gaza opereren. De viszone in Gaza werd vorige maand afgesloten als gevolg van de militaire escalatie tussen Israël en de Palestijnse groep Hamas. Met de aankondiging van het staakt-het-vuren eind mei heeft Israël de Palestijnse viszone uitgebreid tot 11 km. Nu komt er dus een extra versoepeling.

Ook enkele grondstoffen die bedoeld zijn voor fabrieken mogen weer binnen. Of er extra versoepelingen van de blokkade komen blijft afhangen van de veiligheidstoestand op het terrein, aldus Israël.

De blokkade in Gaza is sinds 2006 aan de gang. In dat jaar greep de radicale groep Hamas de macht tot de woede van zowel Israël als de Palestijnse Autoriteit onder leiding van president Mahmoud Abbas. De grenzen van Gaza zijn zowel langs Israël als Egypte grotendeels afgesloten. Weinig mensen en goederen mogen in en uit.

Versoepelingen verre van genoeg

“Zonder een oprecht politiek proces en het opheffen van de blokkade kunnen we niet spreken van grondige humanitaire hulp of heropbouw in Gaza”, zegt Philippe Lazzarini aan VRT NWS. De secretaris-generaal van de VN-agentschap voor de Palestijnse vluchtelingen (UNRWA) trok vorige maand naar Gaza en zag zelf de gevolgen van de recente oorlog op de lokale bevolking: “Een vader vertelde me hoe zijn 13-jarige dochter nu in haar bed plast omdat ze bang is alleen naar toilet te gaan”. Tijdens de oorlog zijn bijna 250 Palestijnen gedood, maar iedereen leefde met het idee straks te kunnen sterven, aldus Lazzarini.

Ondanks de aangekondigde versoepelingen blijven de Palestijnen het tekort aanklagen aan allerlei goederen en producten in Gaza. Volgens Israël kunnen heel wat producten en bouwmateriaal ook voor militaire doeleinden ingezet worden en dus worden ze nog altijd verboden. Niet alleen import is bijna onmogelijk, maar ook de export van Palestijnse producten wordt verhinderd: “Het is tijd voor een andere aanpak.  Anders riskeren we een nieuwe ronde van geweld”, benadrukt Lazzarini.

De zoveelste oproep van de VN

Gisteren riepen de Verenigde Naties zowel Israël als Hamas om alle provocatieve acties te vermijden en het staakt-het-vuren te respecteren. Daarnaast maakt de VN maakt zich zorgen over de plannen van Israël om nieuwe Joodse nederzettingen te bouwen in Oost-Jeruzalem en op de Westelijke Jordaanoever.

Net gisteren bracht de Amerikaanse krant The New York Times een onderzoek, waaruit moet blijken hoe het Israëlische leger onvoorzichtig ging met bombardementen in dichtbevolkte wijken in Gaza, met als gevolg de gruwelijke dood van tientallen Palestijnse burgers. Volgens Israël waren alle luchtaanvallen gericht op locaties en tunnels van Hamas.

Palestijnse woede tegen Abbas

Intussen loopt de spanning op tussen Palestijnse betogers en de Palestijnse autoriteit van president Mahmoud Abbas. Aanleiding is het dodelijke optreden van de Palestijnse politie tegen een politieke activist in de stad Hebron. De 44-jarige man verzweek aan zijn verwondingen na zijn arrestatie door de Palestijnse politie. Volgens de familie werd de man zwaar op zijn hoofd geslagen.

NOS

ISRAEL VERSOEPELT BLOKKADE

GAZA

9 JUNI 2010

https://nos.nl/artikel/163110-israel-versoepelt-blokkade-gaza

Israël heeft de blokkade aan de grens met de Gazastrook licht versoepeld. Zo mogen zaken als frisdrank, kruiden en scheerschuim weer de grens over. Veel producten werden al vanuit Egypte naar Gaza gesmokkeld. Bouwmaterialen vallen niet onder de versoepeling.

Israël staat na de commando-actie tegen het hulpkonvooi voor Gaza onder grote druk van het Westen om de blokkade op te heffen. Bij de actie vielen ngen doden.

De versoepeling komt een dag nadat Egypte de grens met de Gazastrook voor onbepaalde tijd voor mensen openstelde. De blokkade werd in 2007 ingesteld toen Hamas aan de macht kwam in Gaza.

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[7]

NOS

ISRAEL STOPT STROOM NAAR GAZA, HUMANITAIRE SITUATIE
STORT VERDER IN
10 MAART 2025

Israël sluit de volledige elektriciteitsvoorziening van Gaza af, maakte energieminister Cohen gisteren bekend. Een grote ontziltingsinstallatie die drinkwater produceert, komt daarmee in gevaar. Het was de laatste installatie in Gaza die nog Israëlische stroom gebruikte.

“Het is zo moeilijk. Er is geen water en geen elektriciteit. We moeten water in emmers een lange weg naar huis dragen”, zegt Laila Okasha. Ze woont in Jabalia, een door Israël vernietigde plaats in het noorden van Gaza.

Met haar man en kleinkinderen keerde ze terug na het ingaan van de wapenstilstand. Haar huis is deels verwoest. Een muur van de woonkamer is ingestort. Voor het raam in de keuken heeft de familie plastic zeil gehangen om de koude wind buiten te houden.

Iets zuidelijker, in Gaza-Stad, is het leven van Palestijnen niet veel makkelijker. “We zijn bang. De markten zijn weer dicht zoals eerst, er is weinig eten en er vliegen opnieuw constant vliegtuigen over ons heen”, vertelt de 22-jarige Neama Ayyoub via WhatsApp aan de NOS.

Situatie verslechtert snel

Israël sloot vorige week de toevoer van voedsel, medicijnen en andere hulpgoederen naar Gaza compleet af. Sindsdien verslechtert de situatie in rap tempo.

“We hebben geen vers eten meer, alleen blikjes”, vertelt Ayyoub. “Het is ramadan, dus we vasten overdag en ’s avonds hebben we geen eten voor een degelijke iftar. Maar dat maakt ons niet uit, we kunnen alles aan zolang de bommen en alle dood en verderf niet terugkeren.”

Voorlopig heeft Ayyoub nog drinkwater, in tegenstelling tot Okasha, maar dat kan binnenkort anders zijn wanneer de ontziltingsinstallatie in Deir-al-Balah niet meer draait door Israëls stroomblokkade.

Volgens Gisha, een Israëlische organisatie die zich inzet voor de bewegingsvrijheid van Palestijnen, blijft de ontziltinginstallatie in eerste instantie draaien op generatoren. Door de blokkade is het onzeker hoe lang dat mogelijk blijft. De brandstof waarop de generatoren draaien, wordt steeds duurder en moeilijker verkrijgbaar.

Israël wil met de blokkade Hamas onder druk zetten om akkoord te gaan met een verlenging van fase 1 van het bestand. Die liep 1 maart af en zou gevolgd worden door een tweede fase waarin meer gijzelaars zouden worden vrijgelaten en het Israëlische leger zich zou terugtrekken uit Gaza.

De afspraken voor fase 2 kwamen niet rond. Israël wil daarom een verlenging van fase 1 tot 20 april. In die tijd zou Hamas meer gijzelaars moeten vrijlaten. Hamas gaat daar niet mee akkoord en wil dat het bestand de tweede fase ingaat, zoals oorspronkelijk is afgesproken.

‘Blokkeren van hulpgoederen is een oorlogsmisdaad’

Het besluit van Israël om hulpgoederen te blokkeren en de ontziltingsinstallatie van stroom af te sluiten, is in strijd met het internationaal recht. Daarom riepen het Verenigd Koninkrijk, Duitsland en Frankrijk vorige week Israël op om zich aan zijn internationale verplichtingen te houden en humanitaire hulp te bieden aan de bevolking in Gaza.

“Basisbehoeften, zoals medische zorg en voedsel, mag je niet beperken”, zegt Liesbeth Zegveld, mensenrechtenadvocaat en hoogleraar Oorlogsrechtsherstel aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. “De ontziltingsinstallatie is een burgerobject. Als je die doelwit maakt, is dat automatisch in strijd met het internationaal recht.”

Dat de maatregelen volgens Israël gericht zijn op Hamas, maakt volgens Zegveld niet uit. “Acties mogen niet leiden tot de dood van burgers. Dan is het weliswaar op Hamas gericht, maar ze treffen er de bevolking mee. Ook disproportionaliteit is dragend binnen het recht en de verhoudingen zijn hier helemaal zoek.”

Bij het Internationaal Strafhof in Den Haag ligt een arrestatiebevel tegen de Israëlische premier Netanyahu en de voormalige minister van defensie Gallant voor oorlogsmisdaden en misdaden tegen de menselijkheid in de Gaza-oorlog, waaronder uithongering als wapen.

Ook met de huidige blokkade pleegt Israël oorlogsmisdrijven, zegt Zegveld. “Oorlogsmisdrijven moet je aan een persoon kunnen toeschrijven, en dat kan in dit geval. Netanyahu maakt deze besluiten en is dus verantwoordelijk.”

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

GAZA: ISRAEL’S ”OPEN AIR PRISON” AT 15

14 JUNE 2022

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/14/gaza-israels-open-air-prison-15

ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST,

NOOT 12 ANDER STUK

https://www.astridessed.nl/noot-12-blokkade-gaza/

[8]

NOS
ISRAEL SCHENDT STAAKT HET VUREN MET GROOTSCHALIGE
AANVAL GAZA, MEER DAN 300 DODEN GEMELD
18 MAART 2025

Het Israëlische leger heeft opnieuw zware aanvallen uitgevoerd in de Gazastrook. De aanvallen vormen de grootste schending van het staakt-het-vuren sinds het twee maanden geleden is ingegaan.

Het Gazaanse ministerie van Gezondheid meldt dat er meer dan 300 doden zijn gevallen bij de aanvallen. Het maakt daarbij geen onderscheid tussen burgers en militanten, maar onder de doden zouden veel kinderen zijn. Ook zouden er nog veel slachtoffers onder het puin liggen. De aanvallen zijn verspreid over de hele Gazastrook.

Volgens de Israëlische regering zijn de aanvallen een reactie op het weigeren van het vrijlaten van meer gijzelaars door Hamas. “Israël gaat vanaf nu met toenemende militaire kracht tegen Hamas optreden”, staat in een verklaring van de regering. Bronnen bij het leger zeggen daarnaast tegen Reuters dat het nieuwe offensief “doorgaat zolang het nodig is en verder zal gaan dan luchtaanvallen”.

Hamas zegt dat Israël hiermee eenzijdig het staakt-het-vuren beëindigt. Ook waarschuwt de organisatie dat de nieuwe aanvallen gevolgen gaan hebben voor de gijzelaars die nog in Gaza worden vastgehouden.

De Amerikaanse regering is maandag al ingelicht door Israël. Washington zegt dat het de acties van Israël steunt. In een interview met nieuwszender Fox News zegt woordvoerder Karoline Leavitt dat “Hamas, de Houthi’s en iedereen die Israël en de VS willen terroriseren een prijs moeten betalen”. Ze waarschuwt: “De hel zal losbreken.”

Minister Veldkamp van Buitenlandse Zaken roept via sociale media alle betrokken partijen op de voorwaarden van het staakt-het-vuren en de gijzelaarsovereenkomst in Gaza te respecteren.

Grenzen afgesloten

De eerste fase van het bestand tussen Israël en Hamas ging op 19 januari in. In die eerste fase moest een deel van de Israëlische gijzelaars vrij komen in ruil voor gevangengenomen Palestijnen. In de tweede fase zouden de resterende gijzelaars vrijkomen en moet Israël zich militair terugtrekken.

Gesprekken tussen delegaties van Israël en Hamas over de tweede fase liepen al stroef en Israël heeft de afgelopen dagen meerdere aanvallen uitgevoerd. Twee weken geleden sloot Israël de grenzen volledig af, een week geleden werd ook de elektriciteit afgesloten.

Voor de aanvallen van afgelopen nacht stond het totale dodental op zeker 150 sinds het ingaan van het bestand.

Correspondent Israël en de Palestijnse Gebieden Nasrah Habiballah:

“Israël legt de schuld bij Hamas en zegt dat deze aanvallen het gevolg zijn van het feit dat Hamas weigert om meer gijzelaars vrij te laten. Maar Hamas wijst juist naar Israël dat weigert om stappen te zetten richting een permanent einde aan de oorlog, wat volgens de deal eigenlijk was afgesproken.

Met het volledig blokkeren van alle noodhulp en stroom aan Gaza probeerde Israël Hamas onder druk te zetten dat ze toch meer gijzelaars vrij zouden laten, zonder garanties te krijgen dat Israël de oorlog zou stoppen. En nu gaat Israël dus nog een stap verder door Gaza opnieuw te bombarderen. We weten ook dat premier Netanyahu onder druk staat vanuit zijn coalitie om door te gaan met de aanvallen. Zijn ultrarechtse coalitiepartners zijn tegen welke deal dan ook met Hamas en willen doorgaan met oorlog voeren.”


[9]

”Israël en Hamas hebben een akkoord bereikt over een staakt-het-vuren in Gaza. Op zondag 19 januari 2025 gaat het staakt-het-vuren in. Volgens Amnesty International komt dit veel te laat. Agnès Callamard, de secretaris-generaal van Amnesty Internationaal reageert op de aankondiging.”
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
STAAKT-HET-VUREN TE LAAT VOOR PALESTIJNEN NA GENOCIDE
16 JANUARI 2025

Israël en Hamas hebben een akkoord bereikt over een staakt-het-vuren in Gaza. Op zondag 19 januari 2025 gaat het staakt-het-vuren in. Volgens Amnesty International komt dit veel te laat. Agnès Callamard, de secretaris-generaal van Amnesty Internationaal reageert op de aankondiging.

“Het nieuws dat er een akkoord over een staakt-het-vuren is bereikt, brengt een klein beetje verlichting voor de Palestijnen die het slachtoffer zijn van Israëls genocide. De tragiek is echter dat het akkoord veel te laat komt.”

“De Palestijnen hebben al meer dan 15 maanden verwoestende bombardementen te verduren. Ze zijn herhaaldelijk uit hun huizen verdreven en worstelen om te overleven in provisorische tenten, zonder voedsel, water en basisvoorzieningen. Voor hen zal de nachtmerrie niet voorbij zijn, zelfs niet als de bommen niet meer vallen.”

“Palestijnen hebben ontelbaar veel geliefden verloren; van velen is hun hele familie weggevaagd of rest van hun huis niets meer dan puin. Een einde aan de gevechten hestelt bij lange na hun verwoeste levens niet en heelt niet hun trauma’s.”

Beproevingen hierdoor niet uitgewist

“De vrijlating van Israëlische gijzelaars en Palestijnse gevangenen zal een opluchting zijn voor families in Israël en in Bezet Palestijns Gebied, maar kan de beproevingen niet uitwissen die ze in gevangenschap hebben moeten doorstaan”, stelt Callamard.

“Er is geen tijd te verliezen. Israël houdt voortdurend en opzettelijk humanitaire hulp tegen aan Gaza. Hierdoor hebben burgers te kampen met ongekende hongersnood en zijn kinderen van honger omgekomen.”

Garantie noodzakelijk voor Palestijnse bevolking

“Het is beschamend dat de internationale gemeenschap er tot nu toe niet in is geslaagd om Israël te overtuigen zijn wettelijke verplichtingen na te komen. Nu moet ze ervoor zorgen dat Israël onmiddellijk levensreddende hulpgoederen toelaat tot alle delen van de bezette Gazastrook, om het overleven van de Palestijnse bevolking te garanderen.”

“Daarbij gaat het om de toegang van essentiële medische voorraden om gewonden en zieken te behandelen en het faciliteren van urgente reparaties aan medische faciliteiten en andere vitale infrastructuur.”

“Als de illegale blokkade van Gaza door Israël niet snel wordt opgeheven, gaat dit lijden door. Het is van belang dat onafhankelijke mensenrechtenwaarnemers toegang krijgen tot Gaza om bewijsmateriaal te verzamelen en de omvang van de schendingen in kaart te brengen.”

“Voor Palestijnen die zoveel hebben verloren, valt er weinig te vieren als er geen garantie is dat ze gerechtigheid en genoegdoening krijgen voor de gruwelijke misdaden waaronder ze hebben geleden.”

Onderliggende oorzaken

“Zonder de onderliggende oorzaken van dit conflict aan te pakken, kunnen Palestijnen en Israëli’s niet eens beginnen om te hopen op een betere toekomst, gebaseerd op rechten, gelijkheid en rechtvaardigheid.”

“Israël moet het wrede apartheidssysteem dat het oplegt om de Palestijnen te domineren en te onderdrukken ontmantelen. Het moet voor eens en altijd een einde maken aan de onwettige bezetting van Bezet Palestijns Gebied. Derde staten spelen een cruciale rol om een einde te maken aan de straffeloosheid van Israël en het vertrouwen in de rechtsstaat te herstellen.”

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