The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) views with grave concern the escalating activities of local armed groups linked to the Israeli occupation, operating in several areas of the Gaza Strip under direct or indirect Israeli military control, and the serious violations they are committing against the rights to life, personal security, human dignity, and the rule of law.

The ICHR confirms that it has documented cases of abduction and unlawful detention, severe torture, extrajudicial executions, as well as killings and armed attacks against civilians, the intimidation of the civilian population, and the imposition of patterns of control based on armed force, threats, violence, and the spread of fear. Available information also indicates the involvement of some of these groups in interfering with humanitarian aid operations and exploiting the humanitarian collapse in the Gaza Strip, thereby transforming humanitarian assistance from a fundamental right of civilians into a tool for influence, coercion, and control, in flagrant violation of humanitarian principles and peremptory norms of international humanitarian law.

The ICHR believes that the danger posed by this phenomenon lies not only in the crimes and direct violations attributed to these groups, but also in its contribution to undermining public order, dismantling the justice and law enforcement system, and recreating an environment characterized by multiple centers of armed power operating outside any legal or institutional framework, thereby threatening social cohesion, civil peace, and the future stability of the Gaza Strip.

The ICHR holds the Israeli occupying forces fully legally responsible for the actions of these groups, which have been established by the occupation, armed by it, and provided with protection in areas under its effective control, or which it allows to operate, move freely, and carry out their activities in those areas. The ICHR stresses that, under the rules of international humanitarian law, the occupying power bears the primary responsibility for protecting civilians in territories under its effective control and may not evade this responsibility by using local armed groups, field proxies, or irregular formations to carry out practices that violate the rights of civilians or compromise their safety and dignity.

The ICHR further emphasizes that any direct or indirect support, facilitation, protection, or acquiescence regarding the activities of armed groups committing violations against civilians does not absolve the occupying power of its international legal responsibility for the consequences of such actions. Furthermore, any form of communication, cooperation, or support provided by individuals or institutions to these groups or their members may fall within the scope of legal and national liability, whether as criminal participation or contribution to criminal acts, in accordance with the general principles of criminal law.

Accordingly, the ICHR calls for:

1. Urgent international pressure on the Israeli occupying forces to dismantle these occupation-linked armed groups and to cease arming, protecting, and enabling them to operate in areas under its control.
2. The immediate cessation of all acts of killing, abduction, unlawful detention, torture, and armed attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects.
3. Holding Israel fully accountable for the crimes and violations committed by these groups in areas under its control or during operations conducted within the so-called "Green Zone," as the entity that established, armed, and protected them.
4. Requesting the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to monitor cases of abduction, enforced disappearance, and unlawful detention carried out by these groups; to work towards clarifying the fate of abducted and disappeared persons; to ensure the right of their families to know the truth; and to advocate for the immediate release of all individuals unlawfully detained.
5. Ensuring the protection of humanitarian assistance and preventing its use as a tool of control, while guaranteeing its delivery to civilians in accordance with the principles of neutrality, independence, and non-discrimination.
6. Conducting independent and effective investigations into all crimes and violations attributed to these groups, particularly acts of abduction, torture, and extrajudicial execution, and holding accountable those responsible, as well as anyone who supported, facilitated, protected, or provided cover for their activities, in accordance with the law.
7. Calling upon the bodies and mechanisms established or mandated under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 to fulfill their legal and humanitarian responsibilities toward the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and to take effective measures to provide protection against the occupation and armed groups affiliated with it or operating under its protection.
8. Urging the international community to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities to prevent the use of local proxies or irregular armed formations as tools for administering the civilian population or employing starvation as a means of imposing security realities outside the framework of the law.

The ICHR reiterates that protecting civilians in the Gaza Strip, ensuring accountability and preventing impunity, and preventing the instrumentalization of armed chaos as a means of governing civilian populations constitute urgent legal obligations that the international community must not disregard or treat as a marginal or internal matter.