Extracts from Statements on the War on Gaza. One Statement from Oxfam and one from Human Rights Watch

Oxfam

Oxfam is a major international charity with affiliated organisations in 21 countries. Oxfam started in World War 2 to alleviate poverty. Over half a million people in the UK make a regular financial contribution to its work to help people around the world in crisis. Respected worldwide, Oxfam International has 50,000 volunteers and interns working across 85 countries. The charity has 23,000 volunteers in the UK. Oxfam International has over 1200 shops around the world and is the largest retailer of used books in Europe.

Extracts from Statements by Oxfam on the website

“We have seen Israeli forces accelerate their efforts to bombard, depopulate, deprive, and erase the Palestinian population of the North Gaza governorate,” said Oxfam America President & CEO Abby Maxman.

Gaza. Palestinian citizens look at the impact of bombing with many dying under the rubble.

We are witnessing a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Oxfam and partner organizations are unable to provide any support to the remaining civilians in the North Gaza governorate, where people are dying every day.

Access to the rest of Gaza is also severely restricted, with civilians facing starvation and relentless violence.

The U.S. must finally make this overdue call to suspend deadly arms sales to Israel or be complicit in the horrific atrocities unfolding before our eyes.”

“Our local medical teams and international volunteers in Gaza have witnessed firsthand the complete failure by the Israeli authorities to ensure the delivery of critical supplies including food, water and medicines, and to protect civilians and medical spaces,” said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of MedGlobal.

“I witnessed during my visit to Gaza the deliberate starvation of almost 2 million civilians, whilst the bombardment continues,” said NRC (Norwegian Refugee Council) Secretary General Jan Egeland.

Israel’s military actions in Gaza have also had a devastating impact on Gaza’s agricultural sector. The sustained bombardment, coupled with fuel and water shortages, alongside the displacement of more than 1.6 million people to southern Gaza, has made farming nearly impossible.

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that investigates and advocates human rights, HRW investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and puts pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. The organisation is based in New York City. In 1997, Human Rights Watch shared the Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Extracts from Statements of Human Rights Watch on Gaza

Israeli authorities have deliberately denied Palestinians the bare minimum of water they need to survive.

This calculated policy of deprivation has most likely led to the deaths of thousands from dehydration and disease and amounts to the crime against humanity of extermination, and an act of genocide, our new report shows.

Immediately following the attacks in Israel by Hamas-led Palestinian armed groups in Gaza on October 7, 2023, which Human Rights Watch has found amounted to war crimes and Crimes against Humanity, Israeli authorities cut all electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip.

Since then, Israeli authorities and forces have cut off and later restricted piped water to Gaza. They rendered most of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure useless when then cut electricity and restricted fuel.

Israel authorities and forces also deliberately destroyed and damaged water and sanitation infrastructure and water repair materials and blocked the entry of critical water supplies.

This pattern of conduct, coupled with statements suggesting that some Israeli officials wished to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, may amount to the crime of genocide. (The crime of genocide requires committing acts of genocide with genocidal intent.)

The Israeli government’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 17-year closure of the strip, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime.

The closure also constitutes part of the continuing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution that Israeli authorities have been committing against Palestinians.

Governments should not contribute to the grave crimes that Israeli officials are committing in Gaza. Those arming Israel should end their risk of complicity in atrocity crimes in Gaza and take immediate action to protect civilians with an arms embargo, targeted sanctions, and support for justice.

The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which is a war crime.

Israeli officials have made public statements expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water, and fuel – statements reflected in Israeli forces’ military operations.

Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime.

Criminal intent does not require the attacker’s admission but can also be inferred from the totality of the circumstances of the military campaign.