“Draya” monitors “war crimes” by the occupation forces against the Palestinians in Gaza

Since World War II, human history has not witnessed anything more heinous than the crimes committed by the occupying Israeli entity against the Palestinian people. Since the beginning of Israel’s occupation of the land of Palestine in 1948, it has committed all forms of crimes and violations that will not be erased from the memory of humanity, no matter how long it takes. The mass massacres committed by the occupying state In Deir Yassin, the displacement and displacement in 1948, the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982, the heinous crimes during the first Palestinian intifada in 1987, and the Gaza Holocaust in 2008… are nothing but a drop in the ocean of a criminal record that cannot be counted in light of clear and blatant international complicity that constituted an incentive for the occupying state to increase… From the cruelty and brutality of its aggression against a defenseless people defending their land and their right to life.

 Despite the fact that the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, which was launched on October 7, 2023, was a logical result of the ongoing Israeli provocations and violations against the defenseless Palestinian people, and its policies that included unfair and systematic discrimination, the unlawful usurpation of lands, the forced displacement of the land’s owners, and a growing settlement expansion, However, the Israeli occupation army forces gave themselves the right, with international blessing, to punish the Palestinian people for their desire to liberate their land, and carried out a brutal attack on the residents of the Gaza Strip, which was described as the most violent in the series of Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people.

 Through this documentary report, the Strategic Forum for Public Policy and Development Studies “Deraya” monitors the violations of the Israeli occupation army and its criminal actions against the Palestinians and their right to their land and sanctities in occupied Palestine, in flagrant violation of all international humanitarian laws and conventions.

 “War crimes” are defined in their absolute sense as: “serious violations of international law committed against civilians or combatants during an armed conflict, which lead to their perpetrators being held individually criminally responsible, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.” These crimes apply to all violations of the Geneva Conventions. Which was approved in 1949 following World War II.

 This definition was included in Article 8 of the “Rome Statute”, which is the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court that was adopted in June 1998, as Article No. (8) of the “Rome Statute” defines war crimes as: serious violations of the laws and customs of war applied in International Armed Conflicts”, based primarily on the 1899 Hague Declaration and the 1907 Regulations relating to the Laws and Customs of War on Land annexed to the Fourth Hague Convention, the 1925 Geneva Protocol, the 1954 Hague Convention and its Protocols, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the 1994 Convention for the Safety of United Nations Personnel United Nations and associated individuals, and the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

 According to the Rome Statute, these violations and crimes against humanity include multiple aspects, including: -Intentional killing, torture and inhuman treatment, conducting biological experiments, or causing widespread destruction and seizure of property, without military necessity justifying it and in violation of the law and in a senseless manner.-Likewise, attacks against the civilian population as such, or against individual civilians not directly participating in hostilities, or intentionally directing attacks against civilian sites, that is, sites that do not constitute military objectives.

 -These violations also include intentionally directing attacks against buildings designated for health purposes, hospitals, places where the sick and wounded gather, places for religious, educational, artistic, scientific, or charitable purposes, historical monuments, and other targets that are not considered military.

International humanitarian and criminal law also prohibit the establishment of sieges and the deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Objects and materials indispensable to the survival of the civilian population also receive special protection. These objects and materials include: foodstuffs, agricultural areas that produce them, crops, livestock, and water facilities. Drinking water, its networks, and irrigation works, it is prohibited to attack, destroy, move, or disrupt them in any other way.

Monitoring the crimes of the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip:

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation army has been committing all forms of war crimes against the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip, which can be listed as follows:

1: crimes of genocide

The prime minister of the Israeli occupation state, Benjamin Netanyahu, promised to turn Gaza into “ruins”, and the minister of defense of the occupation state, Yoav Gallant, said: “We are imposing a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip, there is no electricity, food, water, fuel and everything is closed, we are fighting human animals –as he put it -, and we act accordingly,” promising the defenseless Gazans that they will see Hell

These statements and subsequent actions and violations over the past weeks constitute direct incitement to commit the crime of “genocide,” which is prohibited under international law. Article VI of the “Rome Statute” regarding the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002 defines the crimes of genocide.

The above are some of the images of genocide crimes that we have seen in the past weeks, which prove for sure that the Israeli occupation state committed all the above-mentioned crimes in its brutal war in the Gaza Strip, which are of course war crimes, punishment and genocide in accordance with the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide and in accordance with the four Geneva Conventions and the law of the International Criminal Court, because the perpetrators know for sure of the crimes of genocide and their multiple criminal precedents in this regard, witnessed by the whole world.

2: Imposing a siege and preventing the entry of humanitarian relief

According to international humanitarian law, and according to statements by officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, imposing a blockade that would threaten the lives of civilians by depriving them of basic goods and services necessary for their survival is contrary to international humanitarian law, and unless there is military necessity that justifies it, It is classified as one of the manifestations of collective punishment criminalized by the Geneva Convention of International Law in the Third Protocol in Article 87, the Fourth Protocol in Article 33 and its Appendix in Article 50, and Rule No. 103 of customary international humanitarian law.

Imposing restrictions on the movement of individuals and goods that would threaten the lives of civilians is prohibited under international law, and accordingly, imposing a “total siege” on the Gaza Strip and banning the entry of food, fuel, and medical aid is considered a full-fledged war crime.

3: Following the starvation policy

The crime of siege is followed by another crime, which is starvation. In its latest statements, OXFAM accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war against civilians in Gaza, stressing in this context that only about 2% of the necessary food supplies were allowed to enter Gaza, meaning that civilians in Gazans do not have the most basic necessities of life, such as food and water, and they cannot find anything to satisfy the hunger of their innocent children. This is a blatant violation of the most basic human rights, which violates all laws, humanitarian norms, and international agreements.

4: Forced displacement

Forced displacement is a serious violation of human rights and a clear violation of the provisions of international law, international humanitarian law,

the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 relating to the protection of civilians in time of international armed conflict, and the two additional protocols issued by the United Nations in 1977 relating to the protection of civilians in time of internal and international armed conflict, and is also considered a violation of the International Convention for the protection of all persons from Enforced Disappearance adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 47/133 of December 18, 1992, which states in its initial article that: -No one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance.-No exceptional circumstance whatsoever, whether it is a situation of war or the threat of war, internal political instability or any other exception, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearance.

5: Killing children and women and targeting civilians

The Israeli occupation forces committed the most heinous crimes against Palestinian civilians, especially children, women and the elderly. The number of massacres they committed in the Gaza Strip reached more than 1,031 massacres, leading to the martyrdom of more than 10,165 Palestinians, including more than 4,104 children and about 2,500 women, in addition to More than 27,000 injured, in addition to about 163 martyrs in the West Bank, and 2,250 wounded in the West Bank, according to the latest data of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and the violations are still continuing and the number of victims and injured is increasing hour after hour, and the bombing has also led to the removal of more than 100 entire Palestinian families from records. Civil status following the martyrdom of its members.

The indiscriminate bombing of civilians and infrastructure by the Israeli occupation army forces amounts to crimes against humanity that require accountability in accordance with Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.

6: Demolition of homes and civilian facilities such as hospitals and schoolsIsraeli occupation army warplanes demolish homes and civilian facilities over the heads of their residents without warning, following a scorched earth policy, as they completely destroyed nearly 32,000 buildings and about 200,000 other housing units that were severely damaged and no longer fit, and still more. Of the 2,500 people missing under the rubble of their homes. On the evening of October 30, 2023, the Israeli occupation army forces destroyed an entire residential neighborhood in the middle of the “Jabalia” camp, north of Gaza. This massacre resulted in the fall of about 400 martyrs, the majority of whom were children and women, and left hundreds of wounded and injured defenseless civilians.

At the level of violations and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army against hospitals and medical centers in the Gaza Strip, the bombing of Al-Baptisti Hospital on October 17, 2023, which resulted in the death of about 500 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were children, represents a new massacre and another full-fledged war crime in addition to the crimes committed by Israel against… In full view of the whole world, which is a grave violation of all the norms of international criminal law and the provisions of all international agreements. The protection of civilians is the basis of the International Geneva Convention, which was signed on August 12, 1949.

This is also a clear violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, especially Rule 55, which considers schools and hospitals to be red lines protected under international law.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated during a press conference on November 4, 2023, that 150 medical staff were martyred and 57 ambulances were destroyed. The Israeli occupation army forces also deliberately targeted 105 health institutions and put 16 hospitals out of service.

The occupation forces also targeted the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza more than once, and other hospitals that they ordered evacuated, such as Al-Shifa Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

7: targeting international relief organizations and their employees

 The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) alone lost about 88 of its employees in the Gaza Strip; the largest number of deaths recorded by the United Nations in a single conflict at all, after many of them were killed while they were inside their homes with their families, according to the statements of “Philip Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the agency, who confirmed that about 40 UNRWA buildings were bombed, which led to its complete destruction, including schools and warehouses, and many other relief buildings were severely damaged due to Israeli raids, the latest of which was the” AL-fakhoura “school it housed thousands of refugees in the northern Gaza Strip.

All international humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip, such as the “World Health “Organizations, The” Red Cross”, UNICEF … and others, announced the interruption of communication with their crews in Gaza, and warned the international community during the previous days that they are working under very difficult conditions amid the interruption of the internet, telephone and cellular communications, as well as the huge lack of resources to ensure that they continue to provide their services to the affected in the Strip.

8: Killing journalists and suppressing opinions opposing the Israeli escalation

Reporters Without Borders announced on the first of November 2023 that it filed a lawsuit before the International Criminal Court regarding the commission of “war crimes” against journalists during the recent events in the Gaza Strip, and a media statement from the organization stated that it filed a complaint related to war crimes to the Office of the prosecutor general of the International Criminal Court on October 31, 2023, including details of the cases of more than 10 journalists killed from the seventh of October and two others injured while doing their work, out of about 36 other journalists killed during the Battle of “Al-Aqsa flood”, and this conflict since its foundation in 1992.

During the media coverage of the events, we find that the Israeli occupation army forces are practicing blatant violations through which they are trying to obscure the voices supporting the Palestinians and suppress opposing opinions through widespread arrest campaigns inside the Strip and in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, described by observers as the widest and loudest for years, according to the Israeli newspaper “hearts” and in a news report published on its website on October 20, 2023, it says that hundreds of Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the occupied city of East Jerusalem have been expelled and imprisoned from work and the university due to seven posts on social networking sites in solidarity with the Gaza Strip Gaza. And the destruction of about 50 centers and headquarters of media institutions as a result of indiscriminate and violent shelling, according to a recent report issued by the Freedoms Committee of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, including, but not limited to: Al-Aqsa media network, Ma’an news agency, Sawa agency, Shihab agency, Al-Quds newspaper, Baladna Radio, Radio Zaman, Wataniya agency, Khobar agency, Al-Ayam newspaper, event media services company, Fadl Shana Foundation, Holy Quran Radio, Shams news agency, APA agency, Al Jazeera News Network office, Palestine TV, Agence France Presse…

9: Use of internationally prohibited weapons

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been arbitrarily using a huge amount of explosives that were dropped on the Gaza Strip, dropping more than 25 thousand tons of explosives – that is, the per capita amounting to approximately 12 kilograms of explosives – equivalent to two nuclear bombs, according to what was stated. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory is an independent international organization concerned with human rights issues in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, headquartered in Geneva.

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory stated in a report that the size of the explosives used by the occupation army exceeded the weight of the nuclear bomb that the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the end of World War II in 1945, which was estimated at about 15 thousand tons of explosives.

  It also indicated that the area of ​​the Japanese city was estimated at about 900 square kilometers, while the area of ​​the Gaza Strip did not exceed 360 kilometres, which means that the destructive power of the explosives dropped on Gaza since the outbreak of the brutal aggression exceeded those dropped on Hiroshima.

White phosphorus weapon:

Many videos have been circulated in all media outlets showing the aerial bombardment of the Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza Strip and targeting them using the internationally banned white phosphorus weapon.white phosphorus bombs represent one of the types of deadly weapons, the explosion of which produces intense heat and columns of burning white smoke, leading to melting human skin and separating it from bones, and incendiary particles can remain inside the body even after the end of the bombardment to cause fatal damage.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip indicated that the Israeli occupation forces used internationally banned shells in their brutal attack on the Gaza Strip, as the fragments penetrate the body and cause explosions inside it, causing terrible burns that melt the skin of those affected and sometimes lead to death.

Unguided bombs:

They are unguided bombs, which is why they are called “dumb bombs.” They are also known as free-fall bombs, gravity bombs, and iron bombs. They are dropped from American “M-117” F-16 aircraft, and their effect is to cause complete destruction of buildings and wipe them off the ground. face of the Earth. They were used during World War II, and continued to constitute the vast majority of bombs dropped by aircraft until the end of the 1980s, until they have now been largely replaced by precision-guided munitions, which are directed to specific targets to avoid injuring civilians or demolishing non-target buildings.

Vacuum bombs, “Halper” retaliatory bombs:

Vacuum bombs are one of the most dangerous and controversial bombs used by the Israeli occupation army forces in the Gaza Strip, because they are more destructive than conventional explosives of similar size, and they have a terrible impact on anyone who falls into the circle of detonating them and causing serious damage, and they are the most destructive to buildings and infrastructure, while “Halber revenge” bombs are considered internationally prohibited incendiary and Fortress-piercing bombs, which are used by the Israeli occupation forces in their aggression on the Strip.

Some international media reports talk about the expansion of the occupation forces in the use of chemical warfare tools during their ground attack on the Gaza Strip, and plans to use nerve gas such as VX gas, sarin gas, Suman gas and Tabun gas, as these toxic gases target blood cells and prevent oxygen absorption, leading to suffocation.

 In the end, the Strategic Forum for Public Policy and Development Studies “Deraya” recommends the necessity of forming an international committee of jurists and specialists in the military field to document the war crimes committed by Israel against the defenseless Palestinian people, and to prosecute its political and military officials, including those who issued orders, plans, and implemented them, and to submit them to the International Criminal Court for trial. As “war criminals,” in addition to requesting compensation for the Palestinians similar to those that Israel obtained from the German government as compensation for victims of the “Holocaust,” which amounted to more than 90 billion dollars over 70 years, according to what was announced by the “Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany” organization. Year 2021.