Yesterday, Monday, a group of Arab human rights defenders and academics called on the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Denis Francis, to declare the atrocities committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war as genocide, during a letter addressed to him.
The letter monitored Israel’s actions that can without a doubt be considered genocide, and include mass murder, forced displacement, deliberate mass starvation, the destruction of vital infrastructure, in addition to the denial of life-saving and health care, the killing of a large number of children, and the increase in genocidal rhetoric and incitement to murder. And the dehumanization of the Palestinian population in Gaza.
Human rights activists refused to consider the deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza as “random” or as causing “collateral damage,” and considered them targeted attacks with bombs and precision-guided missiles.
In the letter, the jurists stressed that the member states of the United Nations General Assembly have a duty to support the United Nations Charter by preventing actions that aim to destroy the existence of a group of people, in whole or in part.
She stressed that there is no shortage of international legal frameworks that consider Israel’s actions to amount to genocide, including the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, indicating the urgent need for the international community to urgently address this crisis.
The jurists’ letter also called on the international community to declare a clear position on the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, as well as to provide the necessary means to put an end to the atrocities committed by Israel and hold it accountable.
The letter urged members of the General Assembly to act immediately to end the Israeli military attack on Gaza, and to ensure the provision of international mechanisms for monitoring and accountability, which also ensures Tel Aviv’s compliance with them.
Today, the United Nations General Assembly votes on an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian reasons in the Israeli war that has been ongoing for more than two months in the Gaza Strip, after the United States used its veto against a resolution in this regard in the Security Council.
The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip resulted in the death of 18,412 people, and the injury of more than 50,000 others, most of them women and children, in addition to the displacement of about 90% of the Strip’s population, amid the cutting off of food, water, fuel and electricity supplies, and a humanitarian and health disaster.