To avert civilian deaths and enable relief access, Amnesty International has urged for a quick ceasefire between Israel and the occupied Gaza Strip. Antonio Guterres has also called for a truce, citing Israeli and Hamas war crimes and calling for justice, human rights, and religious freedom.
Amnesty International demands an immediate ceasefire from all parties.
Amnesty International called for a quick ceasefire by all parties in the occupied Gaza Strip and Israel to prevent civilian deaths and guarantee Gazans get life-saving relief in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
“Over the past two and a half weeks, Israel and the OPT have seen unimaginable horror. Over 2 million Gazans are battling to survive in a humanitarian crisis with massive civilian casualties. More than 6546 people have died in Gaza, 1,400 in Israel, and many more injured. Hamas kidnaps over 200 people. War crimes and significant humanitarian law violations persist by all parties. Despite massive devastation and suffering, humanity must prevail, said Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard.
Protecting civilians and ending the horrific suffering requires immediate action. The international community should demand an urgent humanitarian ceasefire from all sides.”
Amnesty International, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, UN agencies in Palestine, and many human rights experts, represented by a long list of UN special procedures, call for a ceasefire with the UN Secretary General and High Commissioner for Human Rights
Since Hamas and other armed groups killed at least 1,400 people and took over 200 hostages in southern Israel on October 7, Israeli forces have launched thousands of air and ground strikes on Gaza, killing more than 6,546 people, mostly civilians, including at least 2,704 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The rubble has buried almost 2,000 bodies and 17,439 injured. Health is in crisis.
Israeli military threats to civilians in northern Gaza foreshadow a catastrophic ground offensive by Israeli forces into Gaza. Hamas and other Gazan armed factions continue to launch indiscriminate missile attacks on Israeli civilians.
Protecting victims and preventing such atrocities requires immediate action.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès CallamardAn urgent ceasefire by all parties is needed to allow aid groups to securely and unconditionally provide relief to Gaza in the midst of an unparalleled humanitarian crisis that is worsening daily. Agnès Callamard said it will allow hospitals to obtain life-saving drugs, water, and equipment and restore damaged wards.
“An immediate ceasefire is the best way to protect civilians as warring parties commit grave violations. It could stop the rising civilian death toll in Gaza and free hostages.”
Israel, Hamas, and other armed organizations have committed war crimes, according to Amnesty International. The International Criminal Court and the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory might investigate human rights breaches and war crimes by all sides during a truce. Their work is crucial to ending impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity and securing justice and reparation for victims to prevent recurrence and address the root causes of the conflict, such as Israel’s apartheid system on all Palestinians.
Also, Amnesty International urges:
Ending unlawful assaults, including indiscriminate, direct, and disproportionate attacks on civilians and civilian objects
-Israel must immediately let humanitarian relief into the occupied Gaza Strip, break its 16-year unlawful siege, and allow the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory to operate.
-The international community should impose an arms embargo on all sides to the conflict due to major international law violations.
-The International Criminal Court’s Palestine investigation to continue with full backing and resources.
-Hamas and all other armed groups should free all civilian captives unconditionally and promptly and treat them humanely, including medically, until their liberation.
All arbitrarily detained Palestinians must be released by Israel.
The conflict’s core roots must be addressed, including removing Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians.
Amnesty International found that on October 7, Hamas and other armed groups from the occupied Gaza Strip fired indiscriminate rockets into Israel and sent fighters who committed war crimes like summary civilian killings and hostage taking.
The organization has also recorded Israeli war crimes in Gaza, including indiscriminate attacks and collective punishment that have killed mass civilians, ruined families, and demolished neighborhoods. War crimes must be investigated.
UN head calls for ceasefire
United Nations leader Antonio Guterres reaffirmed his plea for a Gaza ceasefire a day or two before Amnesty International released it, saying that Israel and Hamas were violating international law.
Since Hamas’ October 7 surprise attack on southern Israel, which killed at least 1,400 people, Israel has pounded Gaza incessantly.
After the attack, Israel cut off the 2.3 million enclave residents’ water, food, fuel, and electricity, which the UN dubbed collective punishment. It also attacked Gaza, killing at least 5,791 Palestinians, according to Hamas authorities.
Israel ordered northern Gazans to evacuate to the south, but air attacks have persisted. Over one million Palestinians have been displaced.
On Tuesday, Guterres urged the 15-member UN Security Council to protect civilians and warned that the violence might start a regional fire.
We must also acknowledge that Hamas actions were not isolated. Guterres said 56 years of suffocation had plagued Palestinians.
“But Palestinian grievances cannot justify Hamas’ appalling attacks. And those awful attacks cannot justify collective Palestinian punishment, he continued.
Without identifying Israel, Guterres said, “protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than one million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself.”
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s UN Ambassador, called the secretary-general’s address “shocking”.
“His statement that ‘the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum’ expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder,” Erdan wrote on Twitter(X). “It’s sad that the head of a post-Holocaust organization has such horrible views.”
Guterres termed Hamas’ attack “horrifying and unprecedented” and urged the release of 200 Hamas captives in his remarks.
The UN begged “on our knees” for unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza, claiming more than 20 times current deliveries were needed.
Since Saturday, Egypt has sent a tiny amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza, but Guterres called it “a drop of aid in an ocean of need”.
Urgent Support for Palestine: Defending Homes and Aqsa Mosque
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged for decades in the Middle East. The Palestinian people’s fight to defend their homes and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is religious and culturally significant, is a major part of this war. Understanding the importance of supporting the Palestinian cause requires realizing the misery of a people fighting for their homes and the sacred Aqsa Mosque, making global solidarity morally vital.
The Palestinian Homeownership Right
The Palestinian struggle is to keep their homes and land. The development of Israeli settlements, demolition of Palestinian homes, and intricate system of checkpoints, hurdles, and restrictions that impede Palestinian freedom of movement have forced Palestinians from their homes for decades. Humanitarian effects include numerous refugees and a major displacement issue.
Supporting Palestinians means acknowledging their right to shelter and security. Palestinians, like everyone else, deserve peace and dignity in their homeland. The world must assist efforts to restore these basic human dignities and not ignore continued transgressions.
The Importance of Al-Aqsa
The fight to protect Islam’s holiest mosque, Al-Aqsa, highlights the Palestinian cause. To Muslims worldwide, Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is sacred and historic. As Islam’s third holiest place, it represents faith and culture for billions.
Threats to disrupt the status quo, restrictions on Muslim access, and rising tension around the Al-Aqsa Mosque have occurred over the years. Violence has escalated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s religious and cultural aspects.
The Palestinian cause must be supported to resolve a lengthy political struggle and protect justice, human rights, and religious freedom. Palestinians are struggling to preserve their houses and cultural and religious legacy, centered on Al-Aqsa Mosque. All that Palestinians want are Muslim prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque under Islamic authority. While supporting the Palestinian cause, the Israeli government must be urged to return the Aqsa mosque to the Palestinians as it was originally belonged to them. Apart from this, Israel must be further pressurized to stop its war crimes and end atrocities on Palestine. To create a peaceful, secure, and harmonious future for all, global solidarity and advocacy for a meaningful and sustainable Israeli-Palestinian agreement are necessary.
