The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) testified before the United Nation Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting Human Rights of Palestinian People and Other Arabs of Territories Occupied in 1967.  The Committee will convene in Amman on 13 and 14 June 2023.

PCHR’s testimony comes a month after the latest Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip that reflected Israel’s utmost disregard for Palestinian civilians’ lives and perpetuation to cause harm to them and inflict the highest number of causalities among civilians. During the Israeli aggression, 33 Palestinians were killed, and 150 others were injured, in addition to causing extensive destruction to civilian property, including residential houses.

During the testimony, PCHR reviewed the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) violations against the Palestinian people, highlighting the ongoing deterioration of the human rights situation and international humanitarian law.

PCHR particularly shed the light on the Israeli violations, and they were most notably as follows:

• The Israeli closure policy on the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a collective punitive measure against the civilian population and violates many rights, including the right to health and freedom of movement. IOF imposes restrictions and obstacles on Gaza patients, who need permits to cross Beit Hanoun (Erez) Crossing in order to access their treatment. Many patients’ requests are daily rejected for alleged security reasons, while some patients are approved but forced to wait for hours at the crossing that they might miss their appointments at hospitals they are referred to.
• In the testimony, PCHR emphasized that these obstacles have a disastrous impact on patients’ lives and have even lad to their death in many cases. Last year, PCHR documented the death of 9 patients, including 3 children.
• PCHR also tackled other repercussions of the Israeli closure, including banning the entry of essential materials and limiting some, exacerbating the suffering of the civilian population.

Regarding absence of justice within the Israeli Judiciary, PCHR highlighted the Israeli judiciary’s role in providing a legal cover for IOF’s crimes against Palestinian civilians. It also tackled the difficulties facing victims of human rights violations in their access to justice under the existing laws that deny redress and compensations for these victims. The testimony addressed a series of Israeli obstacles, including the amendments to the 1952 Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law and the financial and other material hardships that have increased the burdens on the Palestinian victims if they decided to resort to the Israeli judiciary, most notably Amendment no. 8/2012, which exempts Israel from liability for the damage caused to victims during a military operation. These obstacles culminated on 05 July 2022 when the Israeli Supreme Court decided, in its constitutional capacity, to exempt Israel from liability for the damages caused to the Gaza Strip residents, thereby preventing them from filing compensation cases.

The testimony also reviewed the ongoing Israeli attacks and practices against the Palestinian fishermen at Sea. During the first half of this year, PCHR has monitored many violations against them that included shooting and injury of 9 fishermen, arrest of 10 others while fishing at Sea, and the confiscation and destruction of 5 fishing boats.

During the testimony, PCHR urged the international community to assume its moral and legal responsibilities and work on ensuring redress for the Palestinian victims.

It is noteworthy that the Committee’s visit came to view the devastating conditions of the Palestinian people.