UN Press Release, Oct. 10: UN Commission finds war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israeli attacks on Gaza health facilities and treatment of detainees, hostages
GENEVA (10 October 2024) – Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said in a new report today [the eve of Yom Kippur (lit. "Day of Atonement"), Evening of Fri, Oct 11 – Sat, Oct 12].
The Commission also investigated the treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel and of Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza since 7 October 2023, and concluded that Israel and Palestinian armed groups are responsible for torture and sexual and gender-based violence.
“Israel must immediately stop its unprecedented wanton destruction of healthcare facilities in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “By targeting healthcare facilities, Israel is targeting the right to health itself with significant long-term detrimental effects on the civilian population. Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system.”
The report found that Israeli security forces have deliberately killed, detained and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles while tightening their siege on Gaza and restricting permits to leave the territory for medical treatment. These actions constitute the war crimes of wilful killing and mistreatment and of the destruction of protected civilian property and the crime against humanity of extermination.
Attacks on medical facilities in Gaza, particularly those devoted to paediatric and neonatal care, have led to incalculable suffering of child patients, including newborns, the report said. In continuing these attacks, Israel has violated children’s right to life, denied children access to basic healthcare, and deliberately inflicted conditions of life resulting in the destruction of generations of Palestinian children and, potentially, the Palestinian people as a group.
In one of the most egregious cases, the Commission investigated the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab, along with her extended family, and the shelling of a Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance and killing of two paramedics sent to rescue her. The Commission determined on reasonable grounds that the Israeli Army’s 162nd Division operated in the area and is responsible for killing the family of seven, shelling the ambulance and killing the two paramedics inside. This constitutes the war crimes of wilful killing and an attack against civilian objects...
I would like to share with you some of my poems on the Israeli concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system and personnel:
between blood of birth
and blood of death
a new life
on the hospital floor ...
a Gazan mother's last look
NeverEnding Story, April 4 2024
almost, with eyes closed
to this shrapnel-filled world ...
a Gazan newborn
NeverEnding Story, August 15 2024
a cacophony
of sirens, shouting and screams ...
a girl curls up
next to the wheels of a stretcher
that holds her bloodied siblings
NeverEnding Story , January 27, 2024
hospital raid ...
a dead man watches his blood flow
into his children's blood
NeverEnding Story, February 15 2024
please bury me
with no casket, no prayers
face down, away
from this shrapnel-filled world:
the note in an aid worker's hand
NeverEnding Story, May 5 2024
To conclude today's Special Feature post, I would like to share with you the latest entry of Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CVII: "Yom Kippur"
Yom Kippur
A Gazan doctor's blood flows
over dried blood on the floor
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CVIII: "Lebanon Attacks"
above
pillarsofsmoke
pillarsoffire
Beirutcondos
above
FYI: Politico, Oct. 13: 40 countries ‘strongly condemn’ Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers
At least five members of UNIFIL peacekeeping mission have been wounded in south Lebanon in recent days.
And Democracy Now, Oct. 14: Israel Accused of Committing War Crimes by Attacking U.N. Peacekeepers in Lebanon
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