Civil Society Organizations: Targeting International Institutions is a Continuation of the Crime of Genocide in Gaza

SadaNews - The Palestinian Network of Civil Society Organizations expressed its strong condemnation of the recent Israeli measures aimed at restricting or suspending the work of international humanitarian institutions operating in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip, at a time when the civilian population is facing an unprecedented humanitarian and health crisis. The network stated in a statement that this Israeli action falls within a broader policy aimed at continuing the open crime of genocide through tightening the suffocating siege and controlling the entry of aid to the Gaza Strip amidst a humanitarian disaster experienced by the displaced, along with the spread of diseases and epidemics and a severe shortage of food and medical supplies. This cannot be separated from the aggressive efforts of the occupation in the West Bank and Jerusalem to tighten the grip on the most basic components of life through a series of executions and daily killings, escalating settlement construction and ethnic cleansing campaigns, and targeting camps to reshape collective awareness and work towards erasing the right of return after the voting on the law cutting supplies, including water, fuel, and electricity from the main headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and targeting Palestinian civil institutions as happened with the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Seed Bank in Hebron Governorate in recent weeks. The network affirmed that the increasing humanitarian needs require lifting and facilitating humanitarian interventions rather than placing obstacles in front of them. It emphasized that humanitarian and health work is protected under international humanitarian law, especially the Geneva Conventions, which oblige the occupying power to facilitate the access of humanitarian aid and ensure the continuous provision of health and humanitarian services without obstacles. It stated that any measures that would disrupt or restrict the work of humanitarian and health institutions endanger the lives of patients and injured individuals, undermine the basic right to health, and exacerbate the suffering of civilians, especially children, women, and the elderly. The Palestinian Network of Civil Society Organizations stressed that international institutions and their partner organizations operate according to the principles of neutrality and independence, demanding the guarantee of protecting humanitarian work, humanitarian institutions, and their workers, and not taking collective measures that hinder the provision of humanitarian services, enabling humanitarian institutions to carry out their role without interference or arbitrary restrictions. It stated that the recent actions of the occupation government have proven that it has not abandoned its systematic efforts to subject the Palestinian community to living conditions intended to completely or partially destroy it physically. The Palestinian Network of Civil Society Organizations called on the international community, the United Nations, and relevant parties to bear their legal and moral responsibilities to ensure the delivery of health and humanitarian services to all civilians without exception, and to end the system of Israeli control over the Palestinian people, holding accountable those responsible for these horrific violations of humanitarian law and international humanitarian law.