FIDH strongly condemns the recent military aggression and bombardment by Israel’s army on the besieged Gaza Strip. Entitled "Breaking Dawn", this operation launched on 5 August 2022 lasted three days. Fueled by the pretext of targeting the armed group Islamic Jihad in Gaza, it hit civilians and their property indiscriminately. Bombing resulted in local health authorities announcing the death of 47 Palestinians, including 16 children and four women, and over 360 injured. Israeli military also intensified the blockade by completely closing the crossings, generating further tragic results.
FIDH emphasizes this particularly worrying escalation as a logical result of the systematic denial of Palestinian people’s rights, who since 1948 live under a colonial regime based on domination and apartheid.
FIDH recalls that the enclave of Gaza, with its two million inhabitants, has been subjected for more than fifteen years to a brutal and illegal blockade by the occupying force, which amounts to collective punishment prohibited by international humanitarian law. This situation is now causing a humanitarian catastrophe, rendering the Gaza Strip "unlivable" according to the United Nations (UN).
FIDH reiterates its solidarity and support to the Palestinian people and calls on the international community to take its responsibilities to guarantee the Palestinians right to self-determination, an end to the occupation and all forms of discrimination accompanied by racial segregation practiced by Israel on the Palestinian people.
FIDH further stresses the need to end Israel’s pervasive impunity — especially with regard to grave violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity — in particular by taking the following actions :
– urging the UN Human Rights Council to request a Permanent Commission of Inquiry, to initiate investigations into the grave violations of human rights committed by the Israeli occupation army during the recent military attack;
– calling on Israel to immediately end the illegal blockade imposed on the occupied Gaza Strip;
– calling on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to declare that all crimes that may have been committed in the Gaza Strip fall within the jurisdiction of the Court by including them in the ongoing investigations concerning Palestine;
– ensure reparation for the victims and their families.