109    Human Rights Networks and Organizations Appeal to the UN Security Council for Urgent Action to stop the genocide and to End the Blockade and Save Lives in Gaza Amid Widespread Famine

The Gaza Strip is facing an ongoing aggression war of genocide for the 576^th day, amid dire humanitarian health conditions. The Israeli occupation forces have continued to tighten their blockade of the Gaza Strip for the 64^th day, closing all crossings to various humanitarian aid, essential supplies, food, and medicine, and completely preventing the entry of fuel into the Gaza Strip. This has led to an unprecedented deterioration in the humanitarian and health conditions and undermined all basic services and livelihoods, such as a severe shortage of water supplies, the shutdown of sewage treatment plants, and the near-total collapse of health services and hospitals.

The tightening of the blockade has led to the collapse of basic services, particularly the closure of bakeries, starving Palestinians and using them as a bargaining card, systematically by the Israeli occupation.

According to information released by relief organizations and the United Nations, 91% of the Gaza Strip’s population is classified as being in a crisis phase of food insecurity (Phase 3 and above), including 345,000 in the highest phase of food insecurity (Phase 5). 92% of children between the ages of six months and two years and breastfeeding mothers are not meeting their nutritional requirements, exposing them to lifelong health complications. The Ministry of Health in Gaza has warned that 60,000 children require treatment for malnutrition. This crisis has resulted in 490,000 citizens reaching the catastrophic stage of famine (Phase 5), including 557,000 women.

The continued tight blockade has exacerbated the suffering of more than 150,000 chronically ill citizens, including more than 10,000 cancer patients. More than 14,000 sick and wounded people are deprived of their basic needs while awaiting appropriate treatment. 40% of cancer patients die as a result of not receiving adequate treatment, and approximately 57 deaths have occurred in Gaza due to starvation and malnutrition.

The Israeli occupation forces are pursuing a policy of depriving the population of the Gaza Strip of water by destroying its water infrastructure. 65% of the population lacks access to even the minimum amount of clean water for cooking and drinking. Only 30% of the wells in the Strip are functioning. Meanwhile, the capacity of desalination plants has plummeted to its lowest levels due to the ongoing bombing and the lack of electricity and fuel. This has led to a 95% reduction in water resources available to Gaza residents, with the average per capita consumption is now 3 to 5 liters of water per day, far below the UN’s emergency minimum of 15 liters.

These terrifying facts and figures, as previously and currently warned by reports from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory, the World Health Organization, and local and international human rights organizations, indicate that the Gaza Strip is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe and a real famine due to the closure of crossings and the blockade.

We affirm that the systematic policy pursued by the Israeli occupation directly violates the decisions of the International Court of Justice and constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity under the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

The signatories of this appeal call on:

1. The international community to fulfill its legal, moral, and humanitarian obligations by taking immediate action to stop the crime of genocide and the systematic killing by famine and thirst, and lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip, which constitutes collective punishment criminalized by international law. They also urge the immediate entry of all humanitarian and relief supplies, goods, and fuel allocated to operate hospitals and the water station.
2. The UN Security Council to take immediate action to impose international sanctions on the Israeli occupation to stop the crime of genocide and starvation and to fully lift the blockade.
3. The UN General Assembly to suspend the membership of the occupying state of Israel in the General Assembly.

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Signatories: