International Commission: What has been happening in Gaza for two years is genocide requiring urgent international intervention
The International Commission to Support the Rights of the Palestinian People (HASHD) confirmed on Monday, on the occasion of the International Day for the Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of Genocide, that what has been happening in the Gaza Strip for two years constitutes a genocide with complete elements, requiring urgent international action to stop it and achieve justice for the victims.
In an official message addressed to senior UN and international officials, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and UN Special Rapporteurs concerned with Palestinian rights, which was reviewed by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), the Commission stated that the continuation of the genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, has caused comprehensive destruction affecting civilians, infrastructure, and essential services.
The Commission clarified that more than 2.4 million Palestinians in the Strip have been subjected to mass killing, forced displacement, starvation, targeting of health and education services, and the destruction of hospitals and homes.
It indicated that the crimes of the Israeli enemy during these two years resulted in the martyrdom and disappearance of 80,639 people, including seventy thousand, one hundred and thirty-seven whose bodies arrived at hospitals, while approximately nine thousand and five hundred are still missing, the majority of whom are under the rubble.
It said: “As well as 20 thousand children and eleven thousand and five hundred women, including nine thousand mothers, were martyred, while thousands of families were completely or almost completely wiped out, which clearly demonstrated that civilians were the direct target of military operations.”
The Commission pointed out that the number of injuries reached 171 thousand and 583 wounded, including thousands of cases that need long-term treatment and rehabilitation, in addition to amputation, blindness, and paralysis cases, with a widespread spread of epidemics and infectious diseases due to the collapse of the health, water, and sanitation systems.
The note clarified that 90% of schools and educational facilities were destroyed or rendered out of service, while more than 785 thousand male and female students were deprived of their right to education after the martyrdom of 13 thousand and 500 students and 830 teachers and hundreds of academics and researchers, in addition to the destruction of 38 hospitals and 96 health centers, as well as targeting ambulances and preventing the arrival of medical supplies, which the Commission considered a clear crime under the Geneva Conventions.
The Commission elaborated at length on the famine sweeping the Strip, where hunger threatens the lives of 650 thousand children, and forty thousand infants are at risk of death due to the lack of milk and malnutrition, in addition to the closure of crossings and the prevention of food, fuel, and medical supplies from entering, the destruction of food kitchens and distribution centers, and the martyrdom of hundreds of relief workers.
The Commission affirmed that the Gaza Strip is witnessing a comprehensive collapse in education, health, shelter, and food, warning that the continuation of this situation makes Gaza a disaster area unsuitable for life.
It demanded urgent international action to establish a ceasefire, protect civilians, allow humanitarian aid to enter, refer the crimes committed to the International Criminal Court, in addition to launching programs for reconstruction and compensating the victims.
HASHD confirmed that commemorating the memory of genocide victims is meaningless without stopping the ongoing crimes in Gaza, considering international intervention today a moral and legal duty that may save the lives of entire generations and prevent the repetition of the crime against the Palestinian people.