UN experts call for ICC probe into gross human rights violations during the Israeli aggression on Palestinian territories

Nine UN independent human rights experts on Friday called on the International Criminal Court  (ICC) to launch an immediate investigation into gross violations of human rights during the Israeli aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip and other Palestinian areas.

 In a joint statement, the experts said that the forced evictions of Palestinian families living in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan areas in Occupied Al-Quds is the spark that set off a full-blown war which claimed the lives of at least 222 Palestinians, including 63 children, in Gaza and led to the destruction of 450 buildings, including hospitals, clinics, media offices and water stations that provide  250,000 Palestinians with potable water.

The experts went in to say that due to the vast asymmetry of power between the Israelis and the Palestinians, most of the victims of the conflict are Palestinians in Gaza, of whom over 74,000 have been forcibly displaced and made homeless, mostly women and children”.

 According to the experts, the Israeli occupation’s aggression on Palestinian territories and its indiscriminate bombardment  has also led to an unprecedented wave of mass destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure in Gaza in a flagrant violation of international human rights standards and amount to war crimes that  are unjustified under the international law.

They called for an immediate investigation by the ICC into these war crimes.

The experts  stressed the need to find a settlement to the Palestinian cause, end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and stop the Israeli policy of  forced eviction, house demolition and settlement building activities in occupied Palestinian lands. They also called for guaranteeing the delivery of humanitarian aid, fuel, food, water and medicine to the besieged Gaza Strip to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians there.

Hamda Mustafa