TWN Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Mar22/05)
10 March 2022
Third World Network

UN: Human rights situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory deteriorates
Published in SUNS #9531 dated 10 March 2022

Geneva, 9 Mar (Kanaga Raja) – The situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory deteriorated during the period from 1 November 2020 to 31 October 2021, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said.

In a report (A/HRC/49/25) presented to the UN Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet said that there was an increase in violence, including a major escalation of hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza from 10 to 21 May 2021, an increase in the use of live ammunition by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and an intensification of settler-related violence.

“These patterns resulted in an increase in the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed and injured,” said the High Commissioner.

The Human Rights Council is currently holding its 49th regular session from 28 February to 1 April.

Israeli security forces killed 315 Palestinians, including 197 men, 41 women and 77 children, and injured 17,597 Palestinians, including at least 527 women and 1,472 children, during the reporting period, while thirteen Israelis, including 2 children, were killed and 824 others were injured by Palestinians, said the report.

In the context of hostilities between Palestinian armed groups and Israel in Gaza, monitoring by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) continued to indicate insufficient respect for international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict, said the High Commissioner.

Outside hostilities, OHCHR documented numerous cases that raise concerns with regard to respect by Israel, as the occupying power, for international humanitarian law in the context of occupation and by all duty bearers with regard to their international human rights law obligations, said the report.

“Many incidents of the use of force monitored raised serious concerns that the force used was excessive, in some cases amounting to the arbitrary deprivation of life, including extrajudicial execution.”

From 10 to 21 May 2021, the most significant escalation in hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza since 2014 took place, the High Commissioner noted.

The United Nations verified that 261 Palestinians were killed, including 153 men, 41 women and 67 children (23 girls and 44 boys). At least 130 of those killed were civilians.

About 2,200 other Palestinians were injured, including about 685 children and 480 women. Ten Israeli citizens and residents (five men, three women and two children) were killed by rockets and mortars launched by armed groups in Gaza and, according to Israeli sources, 710 others were injured.

According to Ms Bachelet, OHCHR documented a number of incidents in which Israeli attacks, having resulted in significant civilian casualties and damages to civilian objects, might have violated international humanitarian law principles of distinction, proportionality and feasible precautions.

However, as at 31 October 2021, OHCHR was not aware of any criminal investigation opened into the conduct of Israeli security forces during hostilities in May 2021, said the report by the High Commissioner.

It said the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported having submitted 57 criminal complaints to the Military Attorney General of Israel and 295 civil complaints to the compensation office of the Ministry of Defense of Israel in relation to incidents involving the killing of 101 Palestinians and the injury of another 100 during the hostilities in May 2021.

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the Military Advocate General of Israel had indicated that, to date, 11 of those complaints had been referred for further examination to the General Staff Mechanism for Fact- Finding Assessments, established in 2014.

According to the High Commissioner, there are concerns that, despite preliminary examinations carried out by Israel in some cases, the findings regarding possible violations have been shielded from public scrutiny and do not appear to have yet triggered the opening of criminal investigations or any other meaningful accountability steps.

For example, on 13 May 2021, Israeli artillery intensively shelled a residential neighbourhood and agricultural area adjacent to the Israel-Gaza fence, near Bayt Lahya.

As a result, six people were killed, including a 17-year-old girl and a 9-month-old infant, and several others were injured.

The incident raises serious concerns of its compatibility with the prohibition of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks under international humanitarian law, said the High Commissioner.

The report said that with regard to the Israeli air strike that on 15 May 2021 destroyed Al-Jalaa tower in Gaza City, which hosted, among others, the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera offices and numerous residential units, media reports have pointed towards significant gaps in the process of intelligence gathering that had led to the attack.

Reportedly, Israeli security officials were informed of the presence of media outlets’ offices in the building prior to the strike, and questions have been raised regarding the necessity of the attack.

“Given the absence of clear evidence that the strike could offer an effective contribution to military action and a definite military advantage, and the impact of the strike on civilian objects, the attack raises serious concerns in terms of its compliance with the principles of distinction or proportionality under international humanitarian law,” said the High Commissioner.

According to an Israel Defense Forces internal examination, “the attack on the building caused significant damage to Hamas’ capabilities and … there were no casualties from the attack”.

“No information regarding a possible criminal investigation had been made publicly available as at 31 October 2021,” said the High Commissioner.

Ms Bachelet noted that a lack of transparency persists in relation to the existence, status, progress and outcome of any preliminary examination launched by the Israeli army into such incidents.

According to the report by the High Commissioner, the preliminary response made publicly available by Israeli authorities to possible violations by Israel Defense Forces of international humanitarian law in the context of the hostilities of May 2021 appears to confirm the pattern previously documented by the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner regarding the consistent failure of the Military Advocate General of Israel to open criminal investigations into cases of alleged serious violations of international humanitarian law in the context of hostilities.

The report also said rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza killed and injured Israeli and Palestinian civilians and caused significant damage to civilian objects, such as residential buildings, public facilities and factories.

In addition to Israeli fatalities, at least 18 Palestinians, including 5 boys, 1 girl and 3 women, were killed seemingly by rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups falling short.

On 10 May 2021, an explosion, seemingly provoked by a rocket fired by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, took place in a densely populated area in Jabaliya, North Gaza, killing 8 people, including 2 children, and injuring many others, including at least 10 children and 2 women.

These rockets are indiscriminate by nature and their use therefore constitutes a clear violation of the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks under international humanitarian law, said the High Commissioner.

No information has been made available publicly or directly to OHCHR in relation to any step taken by the State of Palestine or the de facto authorities in Gaza to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian law by Palestinian armed groups during the hostilities in May 2021, she added.

Palestinian human rights organizations have raised concerns regarding the significant challenges Palestinian victims and their families face in filing complaints regarding the actions of the armed groups during hostilities due to fears of reprisal and stigmatization within the local community.

According to the High Commissioner, OHCHR is not aware of any step taken during the reporting period by any parties to the conflict to ensure accountability in relation to previous rounds of hostilities in Gaza.

Ms Bachelet said that serious concerns persist over the lack of accountability for actual or potential violations of international humanitarian law, including alleged war crimes, perpetrated by all parties to the conflict.

With respect to Israel, the report by the High Commissioner said the most recent update by the Military Advocate General of Israel was provided on 15 August 2018.

It said no further updates have been published since, and no notable progress in the investigation and prosecution of alleged violations in the context of the hostilities in 2014 was made public during the reporting period.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights indicated that they had received communications from the Military Advocate General that no criminal investigation would be pursued in relation to four and nine complaints they had previously submitted, respectively.

One of these complaints related to Israeli air strikes hitting adjacent homes in the Al-Shaboura neighbourhood, Rafah, on 2 August 2014, killing eight people, including six children and one woman.

Similarly, a lack of progress and transparency persists in relation to accountability efforts linked to previous major rounds of hostilities in 2008/09 (with no public information made available since July 2010) and in 2012 (with no public updates provided since April 2013).

Such lack of progress highlights the failure of the General Staff Mechanism for Fact-Finding Assessments to enable the prompt and effective investigation of those serious allegations, said the High Commissioner.

“No information was made available on steps taken by the Government of the State of Palestine or by the de facto authorities in Gaza to ensure accountability for possible violations of international humanitarian law, including possible war crimes, committed by Palestinian armed groups in the context of the hostilities in 2008/09, 2012 or 2014,” Ms Bachelet also said.

“The absence of any significant progress in the investigation and prosecution of alleged violations dating back in some cases to more than a decade calls into question the willingness of Israeli and Palestinian authorities to hold those allegedly responsible duly to account,” said the report by the High Commissioner.

It said these escalations and the sporadic hostilities in between them are characterized by long-standing patterns of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law by all parties, further underscoring their recurrent nature and the climate of impunity and the failure of efforts by all parties to take sufficient steps to prevent their repetition.

Impunity remained pervasive for incidents of possible excessive use of force by Israeli security forces outside the context of hostilities, the report also found.

Between 1 January 2017 and 31 October 2021, 428 Palestinians (including 91 children) were killed by Israeli security forces in law enforcement operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

OHCHR is aware of 82 criminal investigations opened in relation to these deaths, of which at least 13 were closed without further action being taken and 5 resulted in indictments, 3 of which led to convictions.

The report said these figures appear starkly inconsistent with the Israeli investigation policy, applicable since 2011, according to which the Israel Defense Forces are obligated to open an immediate investigation into operations in the West Bank that result in the death of a person, except when the incident involves “actual combat”.

Despite the frequent initial public statements by Israeli authorities announcing that a killing was under examination, in most cases a criminal investigation is not opened and details of the decision are not made public, despite Israeli law requiring the Military Advocate General to provide reasoning for all decisions, including cases involving “actual combat”, the report added.

Where a criminal investigation has been opened, the findings and conclusions have been made public only in a few, exceptional cases in which the killing or injury was caught on camera or video and received a high level of public attention.

The report said the lack of transparency regarding the opening of investigations and the absence of progress and outcome of investigations by Israeli authorities is a matter of utmost concern, as the duty to investigate potential unlawful deaths is an important element of the protection afforded to the right to life.

“In the rare cases where investigations result in criminal charges, these are often starkly incommensurate with the gravity of the conduct.”

Throughout the reporting period, Israeli security forces killed 74 Palestinians, including 17 children, 3 women and 54 men, in the context of law enforcement operations, said the report by the High Commissioner.

“The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, witnessed an increase in the unwarranted and disproportionate use of force by Israeli security forces in the context of demonstrations against the military occupation, settlement expansion and Palestinian evictions, and in response to attacks or alleged attacks by Palestinians against Israelis.”

In the vast majority of cases monitored by OHCHR, the use of force by Israeli security forces did not appear to comply with the requirements of legality, necessity and proportionality, frequently resulting in potentially unlawful killings, including, in some circumstances, possible extrajudicial executions, the report added.

Serious concerns persist in relation to the absence of accountability measures to hold those responsible to account, it further said.

For instance, on 14 October 2021, Israeli security forces killed 14-year-old Amjad Abu Sultan, having shot him, reportedly without warning, from a close range while he was attempting to light a Molotov cocktail near the wall in Bayt Jala.

The report said that OHCHR monitoring indicated that Israeli security forces were likely to have seen the boy in advance, and his intention to throw Molotov cocktails in the location may have been known to the Israeli security forces even from before, as contacts had taken place between the victim and the security forces prior to the incident.

Nonetheless, Israeli security forces failed to resort to less lethal means to prevent the attack, raising concerns of the excessive use of force resulting in the killing of a child.

As far as OHCHR is aware, the Israeli military authorities did not investigate the incident, said Ms Bachelet.

Impunity remains pervasive also in relation to past incidents involving the unnecessary or excessive use of force by Israeli security forces resulting in the killing or injury of Palestinians, Ms Bachelet added.

She noted that according to media reports, in this reporting period, Israeli authorities closed three investigations and one preliminary examination into four cases involving the killing of Palestinians, including one child, without taking any further legal steps.

Among these cases is the killing of Zaid Qaisiya on 13 May 2020 in Hebron. Israeli security forces shot Qaisiya, aged 17 years, in the head with live ammunition as he stood on the rooftop of a four-story building located 200 to 300 metres away from an Israeli security forces arrest operation and, according to multiple eyewitnesses, was not involved in any confrontation.

The investigation was reportedly closed on grounds that it was not possible to determine how the child was killed and whether he had been hit by Israeli security forces fire, despite there being no indication of crossfire on the location at the moment of the incident, said the High Commissioner.

For the same reason, Israeli authorities authorized the closing of the investigation into the shooting with live ammunition in the head of 9-year-old Abd el-Shatawi in July 2019 in Kafr Qaddum.

This incident, monitored by OHCHR, raises serious concerns of the possible unnecessary use of force by Israeli security forces resulting in the severe and life-changing injury of a child, who currently remains in a vegetative state in an Israeli hospital, said the High Commissioner.

Regarding Gaza, the continuing lack of progress in the investigations relating to the widespread use of lethal force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians in the context of the Great March of Return demonstrations between 30 March 2018 and December 2019 remains of equal concern, she added.

Ms Bachelet said that OHCHR is not aware of any accountability steps taken by the Israeli authorities during the reporting period, with the last update provided by the Ministry of Justice of Israel in relation to progress in the investigations and prosecutions dated July 2019.

The report said according to international human rights law, the use of potentially lethal force for law enforcement purposes should be resorted to only when strictly necessary in order to protect life or prevent serious injury from an imminent threat.

It said States must take all measures necessary to prevent the arbitrary deprivation of life by their law enforcement officials, including soldiers charged with law enforcement missions.

The unjustified and illegal recourse to firearms by law enforcement officials against a protected person, resulting in the person’s death, may constitute a war crime when occurring in the context of a military occupation, it added.

For Palestinians living under the effective control of the Palestinian Authority and the de facto authorities in Gaza, the reporting period was also marked by increased violence and conduct by Palestinian security forces, which may amount to violations of right to life and to physical integrity, said the High Commissioner.

OHCHR is aware of two Palestinians killed by Palestinian security forces and two by the security forces of the de facto authorities in Gaza during this period.

OHCHR reiterated persistent concerns that scant accountability has been afforded by relevant Israeli authorities in investigating allegations of ill-treatment, possibly amounting to torture, of Palestinians in Israeli detention facilities.

According to the Public Committee against Torture in Israel, out of more than 1,300 torture complaints submitted on behalf of Palestinians to the Ministry of Justice of Israel since 2001, only two criminal investigations were opened, and both were closed during the reporting period, resulting in no further action.

The High Commissioner also said the long-standing series of actions by Israel to silence human rights defenders and civil society organizations speaking up for human rights of Palestinians and shrink the space in which they operate escalated during the reporting period.

In July 2021, two organizations learned that the Israeli military commander for the West Bank had earlier declared them as “unlawful associations”.

According to the report, on 19 October 2021, the Minister of Defense designated six Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organizations, namely the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, as “terrorist organizations” under the Counter-Terrorism Law of 2016.

The organizations have worked for decades to promote human rights and provide critical humanitarian assistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and are key partners of the United Nations.

“The designation decisions were based on vague and unsubstantiated reasons,” said the High Commissioner.

The decisions, which were amended after some weeks, state that the organizations are the inseparable arms of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and that they obtained financial resources, which reached the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror activity, she added.

She said that as of the end of the reporting period, OHCHR was not aware of any credible evidence to support these accusations.

Israeli security forces also arrested at least 16 human rights defenders, including several staff members of the organizations declared as “unlawful” or “terrorist”.

The High Commissioner said that the designations and declarations by Israeli authorities of human rights and humanitarian organizations as “terrorist” and “unlawful” raise serious concerns that counter-terrorism legislation and military orders are being used to halt, restrict or criminalize legitimate human rights and humanitarian work.

She said these concerns are compounded by the lack of compelling evidence to support the allegations against the organizations.

The High Commissioner said these measures, adding to a series of actions undermining civil society organizations working for the human rights of Palestinians, constitute an attack on human rights defenders and seriously inhibit freedoms of association, opinion and expression and the right to public participation.