Israel carried out a campaign of “deliberate attacks” on Gaza’s health system, constituting “war crimes and a crime against humanity of extermination”, according to a new report from the Gaza Commission of Inquiry. the UN tasked with investigating the Palestinian territories.
The report of the commission chaired by the prestigious South African jurist Navi Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ensures that Israeli forces committed “incessant and intentional attacks against the staff of medical establishments” over the last year.
“Israel must immediately stop this senseless destruction of health facilities that violates the right to health, which could have long-term harmful effects on the civilian population,” Pillay said in a statement on the occasion of the publication of the report, which will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 30.
“Israeli forces killed, arrested and tortured medical personnel, targeted medical vehicles in some attacks during their siege of Gaza, and restricted permission to leave the Strip so patients could receive treatment,” the document added. .
The commission formed by Pillay and experts Miloon Kothari (India) and Chris Sidoti (Australia) highlights in the report that attacks on health care in Gaza have also affected pediatric and neonatal care facilities, in violation of the right to lives of many children.
Treatment of detainees and hostages
Deliberate attacks have also taken place against sexual and reproductive care units, in violation of women’s rights. The report devotes a separate chapter to the treatment of detainees and hostages, where Israel and Palestinian armed groups are accused of serious human rights violations.
In the case of Palestinians held captive by Israeli authorities, “thousands of them suffered systematic abuses” that could amount to war crimes. “Many detained men are raped, suffer attacks on their sexual organs and are subjected to humiliating situations, naked, in order to extract information from them,” says the report, which also denounces that many detained Palestinian minors return to Gaza “severely traumatized”. ” ” after being released.
The mistreatment of Palestinian detainees, the report said, is committed “under the direct orders of Israeli Minister (National Security) Itamar Ben-Gvir, and is fueled by government statements that incite violence and revenge.” “.
Concerning Israeli hostages and others held by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, the report denounces that many suffered physical and sexual violence, forced isolation, threats, humiliation and limited access to food, water and other basic necessities.
They were forced to participate in videos “in order to inflict psychological torture on the families of the hostages”, and some of them were killed in captivity, so Hamas and other groups could have committed crimes of war in this regard and against humanity. concludes the commission document.
