Rafah Massacre Submitted to ICC

Gaza, 4 Jumadil Awal 1437/12 Februari 2016 (MINA) – The U.N. human rights investigator for Gaza and the West Bank urged Israel on Thursday to investigate excessive force used by Israeli army against Palestinian civilians and to prosecute the perpetrators.

Makarim Wibisono, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, also told the Israeli occupation authorities to charge or release all Palestinian prisoners being held under lengthy administrative detention, including children.

“Hundreds of Palestinians being held, now including children, often under secret evidence, and for up to six-month terms that can be renewed indefinitely, is not consistent with international human rights standards,” he said, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“The upsurge in violence is a grim reminder of the unsustainable human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the volatile environment it engenders,” he added in a final report to the Human Rights Council.

Wibisino said the upsurge of violence came against a backdrop of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including eastern Occupied Jerusalem, construction of a wall, and Israel’s blockade of Gaza that amounted to a “stranglehold” and “collective punishment”.

Israel must address these issues to uphold international law and ensure protection for Palestinians, he said.

Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the report as biased. “The report reflects the one-sidedness of the mandate and its flagrant anti-Israel bias. It is this one-sidedness which has made the rapporteur’s mission impossible to fulfill, hence his resignation,” spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon claimed.

Wibisono announced his resignation from the independent post last month, effective March 31, accusing the Israeli occupation of reneging on its pledge to grant him access to blockaded Gaza and the occupied West Bank. (T/P011/R07)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)