Al Mezan Publishes New Report on IOF Violations of Children’s Rights in 2012

On 13 March 2013, The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights published a comprehensive report about violations of children’s rights in the Gaza Strip during 2012 which mainly depends the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism of UNSC Resolution 1612.
The report displays Israel’s continued violations of children’s rights in the Gaza Strip during 2012 which came in various forms such as the killing and injuring of Palestinian children, forced displacement, repeated attacks on schools and hospitals, obstructing access to humanitarian aid for children, unremitting enforced restrictions on the people of the Gaza Strip in light of the ongoing blockade which amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza and therefore essentially constitutes a violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and universal human rights standards.
The report beings by highlighting Israel’s policy of targeting civilians and civilian property in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).
It points out that the past year witnessed several cases of violations of children’s rights in armed conflict which resulted in the death of Palestinian children.
48 children were killed in 2012, 42 of them were killed at the hands of IOF.
6 other children were killed in internal incidents such as internal strife.
Another 533 children were injured, including 29 children who were injured in internal incidents.
Moreover, the report documents IOF violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) by directly targeting civilian objects and civilian property either by aerial bombing, artillery shelling or firing at houses neighboring to the separation fence, north and east of Gaza, which resulted in the forced displaced of hundreds of Palestinian families.
In 2012, the report shows, 130 civilian houses were totally damaged by IOF while severe and moderate damage was caused to another civilian 2239 houses.
Hundreds of houses located near sites which constituted targets of IOF aerial and artillery attacks were also slightly damaged.
IOF systematic targeting of schools and hospitals during 2012 is also dealt with in the report.
According to the report, 138 schools were partially damaged during the past year.
Israel also escalated its attacks against sites and individuals in areas close to schools and educational institutions.
This largely affected the education process as it had to be halted temporarily on more than one occasion due to nearly attacks by IOF.
More importantly, the report highlights Israel’s policy of arbitrarily arresting and detaining Palestinian children which constitutes a flagrant violation of the most basic international and human rights standards.
Israel, for instance, detained 36 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip during 2012; some of them were beaten and humiliated at the hands of IOF soldiers.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights reiterates its condemnation of the Israeli violations of the rights of Palestinian children and its ongoing restrictive policies against Palestinians in Gaza which are considered as a form of collective punishment in contravention of international law.
It also condemns Israeli continuous attacks on schools, hospitals, residential houses, and civil and public facilities.
Al Mezan views the ongoing Israeli violations of IHL and IHRL as a reflection of the failure of the international community to uphold its legal and moral obligations towards the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and in the Gaza Strip in particular.
Al Mezan asserts the international community’s failure to take effective steps in order to end Israel’s violations has emboldened Israel to commit further crimes.
Al Mezan calls on the international community to promptly intervene to end Israeli violations of IHL and IHRL, to work towards the realization of justice and accountability in the oPt, and to pursue those who ordered or committed war crimes and bring them to justice.
Al Mezan stresses the importance of ending the international community’s grant of immunity with respect to violations of human rights and IHL in the oPt.