Palestinians leave a food distribution point run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) group with bags and wooden pallets, near the Netsarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. (AFP)
Doha: The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has renewed its condemnation of the grave violations faced by the Palestinian people as a result of ongoing Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023.
These attacks constitute a blatant breach of all rules of international humanitarian law and Israel’s obligations under international human rights law, including deliberate assaults on civilians and civilian institutions.
More than 60,000 civilians—most of them women and children—have been killed, with 148,722 injured in the Gaza Strip, and over 7,500 civilians injured in the West Bank during raids, arrests, and settler attacks.
In a press statement, Chairperson of the NHRC HE Maryam bint Abdullah Al-Attiyah said the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza have created a dire and complex humanitarian reality.
This reality is marked by the deprivation of civilians from essential rights such as access to food, safe drinking water, healthcare, adequate housing, and other vital services necessary for survival.
These deprivations have resulted from direct attacks on homes, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure.
Al-Attiyah expressed deep concern over the Israeli occupation’s starvation policy, which includes the deliberate prevention of access to food and the imposition of severe restrictions on relief organizations.
These actions have led to alarming nutritional indicators that have surpassed famine thresholds, resulting in deaths—primarily among children—due to hunger and severe malnutrition.
She stressed the urgent need for an immediate and comprehensive cessation of attacks on civilians and civilian institutions, and an end to policies of starvation and deliberate denial of fundamental rights.
This includes lifting all restrictions hindering humanitarian organizations from delivering aid to affected populations.
She also welcomed Qatar’s vital role in seeking a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire and in addressing the humanitarian consequences of the Israeli attacks on the people of Gaza.
At the same time, she called on the international community to act swiftly and decisively to end the severe humanitarian crisis facing Gaza’s residents.
Al-Attiyah warned of the grave danger of overlooking the crime of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity being committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people.
She called for international criminal measures to hold those responsible accountable and to ensure they do not escape punishment.
Al-Attiyah emphasised that international silence in the face of these crimes is itself a crime, one that perpetuates a culture of impunity, undermines all efforts to establish international criminal justice, and weakens the principles of international law.
She concluded by stating that the National Human Rights Committee in Qatar expresses serious concern over the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories—particularly in the Gaza Strip—and its impact on civilian lives.
The Committee also fears that the continuation of this situation threatens the credibility of the entire international system, including the legitimacy of international human rights mechanisms.
