On April 5, 2018, the Palestinian Non Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO Network) conducted a video conference meeting with PNGO members including West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip discusses the recent tragic developments in the Gaza Strip.
On March 30, 2018 which marked the 42nd annual commemoration of Land Day also the day Palestinian factions billed as a peaceful “March of Return” which included over two hundred fifty thousand Palestinians advocating for the return of Palestine refugees to their original homelands in historic Palestine, no present day Israel. Palestinians also protested against the 11-year continuous Siege on the Gaza Strip, with dire socioeconomic issues & dire humanitarian conditions, encompassing shortages in basic needs, such as water, food, and medical equipment, and the destruction of all aspects of life therein. In response the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) had extensively prepared for and deployed additional forces and equipment in the area, including snipers, drones, bulldozers, and attack dogs, and issued explicit orders to use live fire against Palestinian peaceful protestors[1].
Since March 30, 2018 to this date, 20 Palestinians were premeditated murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces and the Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for the shooting of Palestinians and the wounding of over 1500 Palestinian citizens including women and children.
PNGO condemns Israel’s systematic and continuous widespread targeting of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt), especially in the Gaza Strip. PNGO warns against the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip and calls for international immediate and urgent action to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and combat Israel’s longstanding impunity in the face of human rights violations, grave breaches, and crimes committed against Palestinians.
- PNGO calls upon the international community to hold Israel accountable for the premeditated murdering of innocent Palestinian people,to provide international protection to the Palestinian people, and assist the occupied Palestinian people in obtaining their freedom, independence and right to self determination.
- PNGO calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to convene an urgent meeting, addressing Israeli’s serious breaches of the Convention and accordingly protection for the Palestinian civilian population
- PNGO calls upon the establishment of an independent investigation commissioned by the UN Secretary General into the killing committed on March 30, 2018.
- Protect, realize and facilitate Palestinian refuges’ right of return, including by protecting and ensuring the functions of UNRWA facilitates and services.
- PNGO calls upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation into the situation in Palestine and to examine all the international crimes cases committed in the oPt.
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[1]See: Michael Bachner, IDF Chief: 100 Snipers Authorized to Use Live Fire During Gaza March (Times of Israel, 28 March 2018) available at: https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-100-snipers-authorized-to-use-live-fire-during-gaza-march/; Judah Ari Gross, With Extra Troops, Snipers, Drones, Israel Braces for Land Day Border Protest (Times of Israel, 26 March 2018) available at: https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-extra-troops-snipers-drones-israel-braces-for-land-day-border-protest/
