Rights Group:Israel killed 5,418 Palestinians in Gaza over 15 years

16 June 2022| 15 Dhul Qadha 1443

Over the course of 15 years, Israeli military attacks have killed 5,418 Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights announced yesterday.

In a report entitled ‘15 years Too Long’, the organisation explained that 23 per cent of the victims were “children, nine per cent were women”.

“Between 14 June 2007 and 14 June 2022, Israeli attacks have destroyed 3,118 commercial facilities, 557 factories, 2,237 vehicles, 2,755 public facilities, 12,631 residential units and partially damaged 41,780 others,” the report added.

It pointed out that the Israeli occupation forces had employed “excessive and lethal force against Palestinian children attempting to cross the perimeter fence,” adding that they had arrested “204 children.”

The rights group said that the Israeli authorities had put in place a “prohibitive and complex permit regime” for Palestinians wishing to leave Gaza to access medical treatment.

“Between 2010 and February 2022, Israeli authorities either rejected or delayed 30 percent of patients’ permit requests,” it said, noting that the denied and deferred permits had left 72 patients dead, ten of whom were children and 25 women.

The humanitarian organisation called on the international community “to desist from double standards in dealing with human rights violations,” and to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities in ending the siege imposed on Gaza.”

“They must also hold accountable and prosecute all those who commit war crimes against the Palestinians,” the report stressed.

In 2007, Israel imposed a siege on Gaza, causing living conditions to deteriorate. Unemployment jumped to 50 per cent.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports that unemployment and poverty rates have been on a steep rise in the Strip since Israel imposed its illegal blockade with more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population living below the poverty line.

Source – Middle East Monitor