Civil Organizations: The Pace of Aggression Continues, Exacerbating the Catastrophic Situation in the Sector Under the Pretext of the Agreement

SadaNews - On the eleventh of October last year, a "ceasefire" agreement was signed amid hopes and expectations for an end to the tragedy caused by the genocide that has afflicted the Gaza Strip over the past two years. However, ninety days after this signing, data indicate that the catastrophe is ongoing, as the occupying government has turned this agreement into a tool to continue the aggression at a pace different from before, but with the same guarantees of strangling and besieging the population, continuing bombings, demolishing buildings, and preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, in addition to the disaster of displaced people from destroyed tents, the spread of diseases, and the violation of aid, assistance, and medical supplies.

The Palestinian Network of Civil Organizations views the occupying state's pursuit of providing cover for the continuation of the genocide under the pretext of the agreement as one of the hidden objectives of accepting the emerging situation. Statistics indicate the rise of 442 martyrs and the injury of 1,236 citizens, with 688 pulled from beneath the rubble, in addition to 21 deaths due to the extreme cold, not to mention the continued prevention of the wounded and sick from leaving to receive medical treatment and the severe shortage of food supplies, as only 23,000 trucks out of 54,000 have been delivered to the sector, averaging no more than 255 trucks per day out of a minimum of 600 trucks.

The Palestinian Network of Civil Organizations, while affirming its firm stance on ending this humanitarian disaster, demands the following:

- Work to establish an international mechanism and immediate binding intervention to stop all aggressive actions and daily bombardments, especially obliging the occupying state by the parties sponsoring the agreement, the United Nations, and its relevant institutions to force the occupying government to respect the "agreement," especially as we are talking about its first phase, which it is trying hard to thwart operationally to prevent moving to other stages and to maintain its military presence in the sector permanently. This requires serious international pressure to stop these ongoing crimes.

- The network reiterates its commitment to the unity of the occupied Palestinian territories as one geographical and political unit, which necessitates working to provide immediate international protection under the supervision of the United Nations directly over all these territories until the end of the occupation. It renews its rejection of any formulas or proposals aimed at separating the West Bank from the Gaza Strip as part of the annexation scheme and the facts on the ground that it seeks to implement.

- It calls on international parties to activate the humanitarian protocol for delivering relief and humanitarian aid to the sector and to prevent the continued crime of occupation, which aims to establish facts on the ground amid the complete inability to fulfill humanitarian, food, medical, fuel, and all daily needs of the sector.

- It demands the United Nations and its institutions to immediately work to bring in tents and caravans and to stop the tragedy of displacement for about one and a half million citizens in the sector who suffer various forms of hardship at the height of winter, leaving them homeless in the open without shelter, food, or clothing. It is a crime that must be halted immediately, especially while awaiting reconstruction, which the occupying state uses as a tool for extortion and political and economic pressure.

- The network confirms that the legal course does not lapse, and it is essential for the authority, international parties, and human rights organizations to work on listing the occupying state on the serious legal prosecution lists and to activate the tools for summoning and legal prosecution of the occupying government and its leaders as they pose a danger to international peace and security, and to take the necessary steps to lift the immunity enjoyed by the occupying state in preparation for the prosecution of those involved in war crimes and genocide.