Conclusions
Health care
88. The offensive on Gaza since 7 October has resulted in the destruction of the
already weak health-care system in the Gaza Strip, with detrimental long-term effects
on the civilian population’s rights to health and life. Attacks on health-care facilities
are an intrinsic element of the Israeli security forces’ broader assault on Palestinians
in Gaza and the physical and demographic infrastructure of Gaza, as well as of efforts
to expand the occupation. The actions of Israel violate international humanitarian law
and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and they are in stark
contravention of the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of July 2024 .
89. The Commission finds that Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy
the health-care system of Gaza. Israeli security forces have deliberately killed,
wounded, arrested, detained, mistreated and tortured medical personnel and targeted
medical vehicles, constituting the war crimes of wilful killing and mistreatment and
the crime against humanity of extermination. Israeli authorities carried out such acts
while tightening the siege of the Gaza Strip, resulting in fuel, food, water, medicines
and medical supplies not reaching hospitals, while also drastically reducing permits
for patients to leave the territory for medical treatment. The Commission finds tha t
these actions were taken as collective punishment against the Palestinians in Gaza
and are part of the ongoing Israeli attack against the Palestinian people that began on
7 October.
90. The destruction by Israeli security forces of the health-care infrastructure of
Gaza has had a severely detrimental effect on the accessibility, quality and
availability of health-care services, drastically increasing mortality and morbidity, in
violation of the right to physical and mental health, which is intrinsically linked to
the right to life. Attacks targeting health-care facilities have exacerbated an already
catastrophic situation, with the rapid increase in the number of emergency patients
with serious injuries adding to the caseload of untreated patients suffering from
chronic diseases or those in need of specialist care.
91. In relation to the attacks on Nasr, Shifa’, Awdah and Turkish hospitals, the
Commission finds that, in view of the excessive number of civilian deaths and
injuries, as well as the damage caused to and the destruction of the hospitals’
facilities, Israeli security forces failed to adhere to the principles of precaution,
distinction and proportionality, constituting the war crimes of wilful killing and
attacks against protected objects. The Commission finds that, in the attacks on Shifa’
and Nasr hospitals, Israeli security forces considered the hospitals’ premises and all
surrounding areas as targetable without distinction and thus violated the principle of
distinction. With regard to Israeli security forces seizing the Turkish Hospital for
military purposes and establishing a military post therein, the Commission finds that
such actions were not required by the imperative of military necessity and thus
amount to the war crime of seizing protected property.
92. The Commission did not find evidence of military activity by Palestinian armed
groups at either Awdah or the Turkish Hospital at the time that they were attacked.
The Commission documented Israeli security forces statements that Shifa’ and Nasr
hospitals were being used for military purposes, and the security forces’ claims of
finding weapon caches. However, it was unable to independently verify those claims.
The Commission confirmed the presence of a tunnel and shaft on the grounds of
Shifa’ Hospital, but it could not verify that they were used for military purposes. The
Commission verified information indicating that members of armed groups had
entered Shifa’ hospital with Israeli security forces vehicles that were stolen on
7 October. However, it did not find any evidence of a military presence in the specific
hospital departments that Israeli security forces shelled in November, including the
maternity ward and the intensive care unit. The Commission concludes that, at the
time of Israeli security forces attacks, the hospitals and medical facilities enjoyed
special protection under international humanitarian law and were immune from such
attacks.
93. Israeli security forces and Palestinian armed groups engaged in intense
exchanges of fire on the premises of Shifa’ Hospital in March, despite the presence
of thousands of civilians, including medical staff, patients and internally displaced
persons. Both parties to the conflict violated international humanitarian law by
disregarding the special protection offered to medical facilities and protected persons.
94. Attacks against health-care facilities directly resulted in the killing of civilians,
including children and pregnant women, who were receiving treatment or seeking
shelter and indirectly led to deaths of civilians owing to the resulting lack of medica l
care, supplies and equipment, which constitutes a violation of Palestinians’ right to
life. The Commission also concludes that such acts constitute the crime against
humanity of extermination.
95. In relation to the 29 January attack on a family, including five children, that was
in a vehicle and on a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance (see para. 11), the
Commission, based on its investigation, concludes on reasonable grounds that the 162
Division of the Israeli security forces was operating in the area and is responsible for
killing the family of seven, as well as for shelling the ambulance, killing th e two
paramedics who were inside. Those actions constitute the war crimes of wilful killi ng
and an attack against civilian objects.
96. Israeli attacks on medical facilities have led to the injury and death of child
patients and have had devastating consequences for paediatric and neonatal care in
Gaza hospitals, creating a large, unmet need for complex surgical and medical care
for children, including premature babies. Israel has failed to act in the best interests
of children and ensure the protection of their rights to life and the highest attainable
standard of health care, and it has deliberately created conditions of life that have
resulted in the destruction of generations of Palestinian children and the Palestinian
people as a group.
97. The Commission finds that the deliberate destruction of sexual and reproductive
health-care facilities constitutes reproductive violence and has had a particularly
harmful effect on pregnant, post-partum and lactating women, who remain at high
risk of injury and death. Targeting such infrastructure is a violation of women and
girls’ reproductive rights and the rights to life, health, human dignity and
non-discrimination. In addition, it has caused immediate physical and mental harm
and suffering to women and girls and will have irreversible long-term effects on the
mental health and the physical reproductive and fertility prospects of the Palestinian
people as a group.
98. Intentionally targeting facilities that are crucial for the health and protection of
women, newborns and children violated the norm of customary international
humanitarian law that affords special protection to women and children in armed
conflicts. Such harmful acts were both foreseeable and unremedied. The prolonged
physical and mental suffering of injured children and the reproductive harm caused
to pregnant, post-partum and lactating women amount to the crime against humanity
of other inhumane acts.
99. The Commission finds that Israeli security forces resorted to perfidy when
soldiers entered a hospital in Jenin dressed as medical staff and female civilians on
30 January. That action constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law.
100. Attacks by Palestinian armed groups on medical staff, medical facilities and
ambulances in Israel on and after 7 October constitute a war crime.
Detention of Palestinians
101. Mass arbitrary detention of Palestinians has been a long-standing practice over
the course of the 75-year-long Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Detention
in Israel has been characterized by widespread and systematic abuse, physical and
psychological violence, sexual and gender-based violence, and death in detention. The
frequency and severity of those practices have increased since 7 October.
102. Mistreatment of Palestinian detainees by Israeli authorities is the result of an
intentional policy. Acts of physical, psychological, sexual and reproductive violence
were perpetrated to humiliate and degrade Palestinians. This was observed across
several facilities and temporary holding locations, as well as during interrogation and
while in transit to and from facilities. Detainees, including older persons and children,
were subjected to consistent mistreatment, including lack of sufficient food and
appropriate hygiene facilities, beatings, abusive language and being forced to perform
humiliating acts. Israeli security forces committed those acts with the intent to inflict
pain and suffering, amounting to torture as a war crime and a crime against humanity
and constituting a violation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The deaths of detainees as a result
of abuse or neglect amount to the war crimes of wilful killing or murder and violations
of the right to life.
103. This systematic abuse is directly and causally linked to statements made by
Israeli officials, including the Minister of National Security, who is responsible for
the Israel Prison Service, and other members of the Israeli coalition Government
legitimizing revenge and violence against Palestinians. The lack of accountability for
actions of individual members of the Israeli security forces and the increasing
acceptance of violence against Palestinians have allowed such conduct to continue
uninterrupted and become systematic and institutionalized.
104. Large-scale arrests of Palestinian men and boys have been carried out with little
or no justifiable cause, in many cases apparently simply because they were considered
to be of “fighting age” or they did not follow evacuation orders. The detention of
thousands of Palestinians for prolonged periods, even when they clearly posed no
security risk, was arbitrary, unlawful and constitutes collective punishment and
gender persecution.
105. The Israeli policy of deliberately withholding information regarding the names,
whereabouts and status of detainees amounts to the crime against humanity of enforced
disappearance. The mental suffering of the families of detainees amounts to torture.
106. Israeli security forces intentionally, unlawfully and arbitrarily deprived
Palestinian children of their liberty and fundamental rights and caused serious
physical and mental suffering. Israeli security forces transferred child detainees from
Gaza and the West Bank to Israeli military detention centres, where they were
detained for prolonged periods in the same quarters as adults and subjected to severe
mistreatment, humiliation and torture. Ill-treatment of children was also observed in
Israel Prison Service facilities. Released children have shown signs of serious
physical injury, extreme psychological distress and trauma.
107. Israeli security forces used detainees as human shields in several instances in
the West Bank and Gaza, which constitutes a war crime. Israeli security forces
transported detainees from the West Bank on the bonnets of Israeli security forces
vehicles in the middle of an exchange of fire. They forced detainees into tunnels and
buildings ahead of military personnel in the Gaza Strip.
108. As the intensity of the hostilities increased, so did the prevalence and types of
sexual and gender-based violence committed. In its previous report to the Human
Rights Council (A/HRC/56/26), the Commission identified persecutory acts
committed against Palestinian men and boys, including the filming of forced public
stripping and nudity. The Commission finds that such persecutory acts continued in
detention in the form of sexualized torture. Male detainees were subjected to attacks
on their sexuality and reproductive organs, including violence to their genitals and
anus, and were forced to perform humiliating and strenuous acts naked or stripped as
a form of punishment or intimidation, with a view to extract information from them.
Male detainees were subjected to rape, which is a war crime and a crime against
humanity. Such acts of sexual violence, causing severe physical and mental suffering,
also amount to torture.
109. Israeli security forces subjected male and female detainees to forced nudity and
stripping during transfer, in detention facilities and during interrogations or body
searches, in a widespread and systematic manner. Taken together with other acts of
sexual violence committed for the purpose of humiliation or degradation, such as
being photographed fully or partially naked and subjected to verbal and physical
sexual abuse and threats of rape, the aforementioned acts constitute the war crimes of
inhuman treatment and outrages upon personal dignity and the crime against
humanity of other inhumane acts. In some cases, such acts amount to the war crime
and crime against humanity of torture.
110. Israeli security forces have prohibited released detainees from returning to their
places of residence in the north of Gaza. That prohibition constitutes forced
displacement. Attacks against civilians attempting to return to their families amount
to forcible transfer. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israeli and foreign hostages
111. In its previous report to the Human Rights Council, the Commission found that
the taking of hostages, both civilians and soldiers, by Palestinian armed groups
constituted a war crime. The Commission finds that hostages were intentionally
mistreated in order to inflict physical pain and severe mental suffering. Such
mistreatment includes physical violence, abuse, sexual violence, forced isolation,
limited access to hygiene facilities, water and food, threats and humiliation. Hamas
and other Palestinian armed groups forced hostages to participate in videos, with the
intent of inflicting psychological torture on the families of hostages in order to
achieve political aims.
112. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed the war crimes of torture,
inhuman or cruel treatment, rape and sexual violence and have violated the customary
international humanitarian law prohibition on enforced disappearance. Inflicting
mental suffering on the families of victims constitutes torture. The Commission
emphasizes that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, as the detaining parties,
are responsible for the safety and well-being of the hostages. Crimes against
humanity, including torture, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts, were
committed against hostages by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. The de
facto authority in Gaza has the responsibility of investigating possible violations of
international law and holding the perpetrators accountable.
Rispondi Citando
Originariamente Scritto da Azad
"
"
