Israel’s genocidal conflict in Gaza has adopted a “concerted policy” to destroy the Palestinian territory’s well being care system, an unbiased U.N. fee report revealed Wednesday.
“Our report to the General Assembly, which we presented this morning, examines attacks on medical facilities and personnel and the treatment of detainees and hostages from 7th of October, 2023 to August 2024,” Navi Pillay, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, together with East Jerusalem, and Israel, instructed a news convention on the U.N. headquarters in New York.
She stated that the findings revealed “a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s health care system,” whereas including that “Palestinian detainees were subjected to persistent mistreatment by Israeli authorities, amounting to torture as a war crime and crime against humanity.”
“We intend to continue pursuing the fulfillment of our mandate, including in relation to making recommendations, in particular on accountability measures,” she stated, pledging efforts to finish impunity and guarantee authorized accountability.
The report submitted to the General Assembly discovered “thousands of Palestinians, mostly men and boys from Gaza, have been arbitrarily detained and held incommunicado.”
“Israeli forces used detainees as human shields in both the West Bank and Gaza, constituting a war crime,” it stated.
The fee reported that Palestinian detainees, together with the aged and youngsters, “were subjected to persistent mistreatment by Israeli authorities, including beatings, continuous blindfolding and handcuffing, severe overcrowding, death threats, humiliation, deprivation of food, restricting appropriate hygiene and withholding medical care.”
Asked concerning the authorized penalties and the “slow-moving processes” within the International Criminal Court (ICC), Pillay stated: “It’s a slow process, but we are getting there. We’re getting there mainly because of activism on the part of civil society and victims and commissions such as us.”
Regarding “positive steps” that nations ought to take to finish the Israeli occupation, Pillay stated the “onus lies on every state under international law to take steps not to cooperate with the occupation itself.”
‘Double requirements’
She reminded all nations of their accountability “not to continue to support this (Israeli) occupation. That would be any support – militarily, politically or recognition – even about moving the embassies to Jerusalem.”
“You have to change your traditional way of treating the situation,” she stated.
Pillay famous “double standards” in opposition to Palestine, particularly by some member states, and careworn that “huge violations” traditionally occurred earlier than Oct. 7 and blamed the occupation.
Asked concerning the report’s discovering “war crimes” in opposition to Palestinians and accountability, Pillay stated there are greater than “10,000 pieces of evidence” that relate to the “existence of proof of genocide.”
“We dedicated to gathering evidence with the goal of ensuring accountability,” she stated, noting that “there is no other organ of the U.N. with an investigative mandate and that the commission is “handicapped. We’re not allowed contained in the nation.”
Saying that there are methods and measures that the Security Council and the General Assembly can undertake when a member state doesn’t comply, Pillay famous the case of South Africa and its membership being suspended till apartheid ended.
Chris Sidoti, a member of the fee, criticized Israel’s determination to ban the actions of U.N. company for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and famous that solely 9 employees members had been dismissed after Israel accused them of participating within the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
“That’s more than the number of staff that the Israeli Defense Forces have dismissed for violations of international humanitarian laws such as war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he stated, including that the Israeli military is way behind in “dealing with allegations and investigations of misconduct by employees.”
Sidoti famous that UNRWA “has saved Israeli taxpayers billions of dollars over the last 57 years … because Israel, as the occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention, is responsible for the care, protection and the provision of services to persons under occupation.”
“If UNRWA is kicked out, the cost for the Israeli taxpayer is going to be ginormous. So, this is a decision that is bad for the Palestinians and ridiculous for Israeli taxpayers,” he added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com