The full text of the statement to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is as follows:
We, the undersigned representatives of nearly 200 non-governmental organizations and civil society, wish to express our deep concern at the grave violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law that have persisted for more than seven decades.
With the occupation of the OPT since 1967, many of the occupied territories have been converted into settlements that have displaced the local Palestinian population from their land and changed the demography of the territories.
Widespread discrimination and illegal use of force against civilians, as well as indiscriminate attacks, are just some of the rights violations committed by Israeli forces in recent years.
In addition to the continuation of the perpetual illegal occupation and the disregard for IHL and IHL obligations, the situation, as outlined in the various reports, was characterized by the increasing expansion of settlements, widespread settler violence, the adoption of discriminatory laws and executive orders, and the complete lack of accountability of the Israeli regime.
Palestinian civilians, including children, continue to be killed on a daily and continuous basis, in addition to the policy of raids and attacks on Palestinian villages, towns, and cities by Israeli occupation forces and settler herds.
In recent days, the world has been shocked and appalled to learn of grave violations in the occupied Palestinian territories. We would like to draw your attention to some of the serious and grave violations of Palestinian rights in recent days:
- As the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict mentioned in her recent statement, killing and maiming, attacks on
schools and hospitals, and abductions are serious violations against children, as is the recruitment and use of children, which is prohibited under international law.
Yet in the recent invasion, attacks on homes, schools, and hospitals, particularly the attack on Al-ahli and Al-Mamdani Hospitals, killed most of 1,000 children and caused the loss of their families.
- Like many other instruments, Article 25 of the Hague Regulations prohibits “attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or
buildings which are undefended". Also according to the Statute of the International Criminal Court, “deliberately attacking civilians as such or individual
civilians not directly engaged in hostilities” constitutes a war crime in international armed conflicts. According to a report by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (22/10/2023), the number of Palestinian civilians killed since the start of the aggression in Gaza and the West Bank has risen to 4,651, including nearly 2,500 women, while the number of wounded reached 14,000.
- The use of chemical weapons in international armed conflicts is prohibited in a series of treaties, including the Hague Declaration on Asphyxiating Gases, the Geneva Protocol on Gases, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Statute of the International Criminal Court. The prohibition is also contained in a number of other instruments. In the meantime, the Israeli regime has begun using white phosphorus, which is unlawfully dropped indiscriminately in populated urban areas, where it can burn down homes and cause immense harm to civilians.
- According to Rule No. 34 of Customary IHL, civilian journalists engaged in armed conflict as part of their professional activities must be respected and protected as long as they are not directly involved in the hostilities. At least ten journalists were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and two others disappeared.
The United Nations should take all necessary steps to ensure that all actions deemed to be collective punishment of the Palestinian people cease immediately and people's access to humanitarian aid is possible.
Also, Emphasis on the continuation of the inalienable responsibility of the United Nations towards the question of Palestine until a just and comprehensive solution is found in all its aspects that guarantees the end of the occupation and enables the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable national rights, including their right to return, self-determination and the establishment of their independent state on their national soil.