NHRC Reaffirms Stance Against Israeli Occupation’s Crimes in Palestine

The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) reiterated its condemnation of the serious attacks that the Israeli occupation has been continuously committing against the Palestinian people since Oct. 7, 2023, in a flagrant violation of all rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law obligations, including repeated deliberate attacks against civilians and civilian facilities.

The committee said in a statement that these attacks resulted in the killing of more than 60,000 civilians - the majority of whom were women and children, and the injury of at least 148,722 people in the Gaza Strip, in addition to the injury of over 7,500 civilians in the West Bank during the occupation's raids, arrests and colonist attacks.

In this context, HE Chairperson of National Human Rights Committee Maryam bint Abdullah Al Attiyah affirmed that the Israeli occupation's ongoing attacks against the Gaza Strip have created an extremely difficult humanitarian reality, such as depriving civilians from their most basic human rights necessary for survival, such as food, safe water, healthcare and adequate housing, by deliberate targeting of homes, hospitals and civilian institutions.

Her Excellency expressed her deep concern about the policy of starving civilians practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities through the deliberate denial of access to food and the imposition of severe obstacles and restrictions on relief organization's work, pointing out that these restrictions led food indicators to exceed the threshold of famine and caused death among the population, especially among children, as a result of hunger and severe malnutrition.

Al Attiya stressed the need for an immediate and comprehensive cessation of attacks against civilians and civilian facilities, and an end to the occupation's policy of starvation and the deliberate denial of basic rights, including the elimination of restrictions imposed on the work of humanitarian organizations to enable them to provide relief assistance to those in need.

HE Chairperson of NHRC welcomed the role that the State of Qatar plays in addressing the humanitarian impact of the Israeli occupation's attacks against the residents of the Gaza Strip, in addition to the country's mediation efforts, in cooperation with Egypt and the US, to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire.

She called on the international community to act immediately and decisively to end the dire humanitarian conditions that the people of the Gaza Strip are facing.

She also warned of the danger of overlooking genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity that the Israeli occupation has been repeatedly committing against the Palestinian people, calling for international criminal measures to hold those responsible for these grave violations accountable and to prevent their impunity.

The international silence regarding these crimes constitutes a crime in itself, fostering impunity, undermining international efforts to establish criminal justice, and weakening the principles of international law, she continued.

HE Chairperson of NHRC expressed the committee's serious concern about the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip, warning that the continuation of this situation threatens the credibility of the entire international system, including human rights mechanisms.