Stop the collective punishment of civilians in Gaza

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network strongly condemns the decision by the Israeli government to cut off vital supplies of electricity and fuel as well as essential foodstuffs, medicines and other humanitarian supplies to the civilian population of Gaza.
 
Since Friday 18 January, Israel has closed all Gaza’s border crossing points and blocked all humanitarian aid, except for emergency cases. With some 80 percent of Gaza’s population requiring food aid, the impact of these measures will be catastrophic. This escalation has also been accompanied by an intensifying of Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip in the first 19 days of 2008, costing the lives of 69 Palestinians, including four children and eight women, and the injury of over 190.
 
Israeli military forces continue to launch indiscriminate attacks on densely populated areas of Gaza Strip, where it is impossible to distinguish between civilians and military objects. This disproportional use of force puts the lives of Palestinian civilians at high risk.
 
Israel’s current policy in relation to the Gaza Strip and its 1.5 million inhabitants constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law including Israel’s obligation as an Occupying Power to ensure, at a minimum, the basic needs of the population under its effective control, and the prohibition on collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention.
 
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network
 
- Recalls that the root cause to the current situation is Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories which is illegal according to UN Security Council resolutions.
- Condemns the closure of Gaza; the toppling of the fence at the Egyptian border implies no release of Israel from its responsibilities as an occupying power.
- Calls upon Israel to cease immediately any military action endangering the life of the civil populations inside the Gaza Strip.
- Calls upon the Hamas, which controls the Palestinian institutions in the Gaza Strip, to put an end to the shootings of rockets against the Israeli civilians
- Urges the Egyptian government to keep the border open
- Demands from the parties of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to strictly observe the regulations of the international law and the international humanitarian law.
- Calls upon the international community and the EU member states to fully comply with their obligations of safeguarding international human rights standards and international humanitarian law.
- Calls upon EU to take concrete measures to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law, including international humanitarian law and relevant EU guidelines.

25/01/2008

----------------------------------------

About us
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) is a network gathering more than 80 human rights organisations from 30 countries in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
www.euromedrights.net

Contact: Marc Degli-Esposti

Communication Officer - Chargé de communication

Tel: +45 32 64 17 16  Email: mdm@euromedrights.net