THE HAGUE – On Wednesday,
the Euro-Med Monitor emphasized the significance of South Africa’s request on
February 12 to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning Israel’s
decision to extend its military operations in Rafah.
اضافة اعلان
Rafah, which was home to
roughly 280,000 Palestinians prior to the current Israeli attacks, now hosts
over 1.4 million people, or more than half of the Gaza Strip's population. The
majority of the population are children, seeking refuge in Rafah in response to
military evacuation orders from Israel.
The Israeli Occupation
Forces (IOF) attacks against Rafah have already begun, Euro-Med Monitor warned,
and include killing, starvation, and deprivation of health services, completely
disregarding the ICJ’s decision on January 26, which acknowledged that Israel
has violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention.
The IOF has killed about
280 people in Rafah, including about 155 women and children, as well as
completely or partially destroyed about 220 housing units in the Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, the dire humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people in Rafah
Governorate have not been met.
South Africa's request
should draw attention to Israel’s disregard for all precautionary measures
mandated by the ICJ on January 26. Under these mandates, Israel is required to
punish those who instigated the genocide, prevent it from occurring, and take
prompt, decisive action to enable the provision of humanitarian aid and
essential services, as well as to protect pertinent evidence from destruction.
Euro-Med Monitor reported
that the IOF has killed over 1,864 Palestinians, including 690 children and 441
women, and injured over 2,933 more since the ICJ ruling, bringing the death
toll of Israel’s war against the Gaza Strip, ongoing since October 7, 2023, to
35,880, including 13,880 children and 7,910 women.
The IOF has continued to
bomb and destroy houses even after its military operations in the southern Gaza
Strip were supposedly terminated a few weeks ago. The IOF has blown up at least
43 residential squares since the ICJ ruling, with each square containing
between 20 to 50 houses, mainly in the Strip’s southern area of Khan Yunis.
Furthermore, in addition
to demolishing all structures in the eastern section of the Strip that were
situated between 1,000m and 1,500m away from the border fence, the IOF has
leveled entire residential squares, with the apparent intent to create a buffer
zone that would enclose over 15 percent of the wider Gaza Strip. Euro-Med
Monitor confirmed that the Strip does not exceed 365 square kilometers and is
among the most densely populated areas in the world.
Instead of ensuring
humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the ICJ
ruling, Israel has intensified its efforts to impede aid by a number of means.
Due to Israeli restrictions, hundreds of thousands of people in the northern Gaza
Strip are experiencing severe and ongoing food shortages. In addition, more
than half a million people are facing catastrophic conditions amid increasing
numbers of deaths resulting from hunger, malnutrition, or related diseases.
Euro-Med Human Rights
Monitor called South Africa’s request a chance for the International Court of
Justice to fulfill its mandate of shielding the Palestinian people in the Gaza
Strip from Israeli acts of genocide and pressuring Israel to implement genuine
measures to save lives, such as a ceasefire. The decision should compel Israel
to permit displaced individuals to return to their places of residence, stated
Euro-Med Monitor, or, at the very least, should stop Israel from executing its
all-encompassing military assault on Rafah.
Should the Rafah attack go
through, it would result in an unparalleled humanitarian crisis and endanger
the lives of 1.4 million Palestinians.
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