Atrocity Alert No. 413: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, DR Congo and Libya

A YEAR OF UNFOUNDABLE Atrocities and Suffering in Occupied PALESTINE AND ISRAEL

The past year in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has been marked by a horrific scale and intensity of mass atrocities and a blatant disregard for international law. Both Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have committed war crimes and probable crimes against humanity, while the government of Israel has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and at least three of the genocides in Gaza. Reflecting on the unfathomable horrors of the past year, Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Response Coordinator, said: “No statistics or words can fully capture the scale of the physical, mental and societal devastation. took place.”

Civilians have suffered the worst consequences over the past twelve months as hostilities and sieges continue without interruption. It is believed that 97 of the 251 people kidnapped by Palestinian armed groups in Israel last year are still held hostage and denied humanitarian visits. The continued detention of civilian hostages is a war crime. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palestinian detainees have suffered a significant increase in extrajudicial killings, mass detentions and enforced disappearances – with thousands held in squalid conditions without charge or trial – as well as sexual violence and abuse. treatment, including waterboarding, which amounts to torture. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories investigated Israel’s detention practices in 2023 and called on UN member states to intervene and the International Criminal Court to investigate what appeared to be “a consolidated crime against humanity” .

The extent of the civilian damage in Gaza – which has been under an air, land and sea blockade since 2007 – is staggering. Israel has repeatedly used weapons with long range and indiscriminate effects in densely populated areas, attacking and destroying civilian objects protected under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in a manner widely characterized as collective punishment. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza – the most reliable source for such figures – more than 41,615 people have been killed and more than 96,000 injured. More than 70 percent of civilian infrastructure has been destroyed, leaving much of the enclave uninhabitable and in ruins. An estimated 1.9 million Palestinians – 90 percent of the population – have been displaced, with many facing multiple forced displacements and nowhere safe to shelter.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered the government of Israel three times to prevent genocide against Palestinians and to allow necessary aid to enter Gaza. Yet Israel has defied these orders by maintaining its unlawful blockade and repeatedly attacking hospitals and humanitarian workers. According to the UN, at least 306 humanitarian workers and more than 900 medical workers have been killed in Gaza.

Existing patterns of violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have also escalated. Palestinians are facing increasingly deadly violence and militarized operations by Israeli forces, as well as settlement expansion, unlawful demolitions and forced displacement. An opinion from the International Court of Justice ruled that the Israeli occupation is unlawful and that Israel has a duty to end it as quickly as possible.

Over the past year, the Global Center has joined others around the world in calling for an immediate ceasefire. That call has been ignored for too long. Until a ceasefire is reached and UN Security Council Resolution 2735 is implemented without delay, Palestinians will continue to suffer war crimes, crimes against humanity and potential genocides. All persons held hostage must be released and treated humanely. Israel must immediately implement all ICJ interim measures and states parties to the Genocide Convention must help ensure compliance. All states must halt arms exports to Israel and take other economic and political measures necessary to ensure respect for international law. The root causes of deadly cycles of violence and atrocities must be addressed, including ending Israel’s blockade of Gaza, illegal occupation and settlement-related activities, and apartheid policies.

ALARMING LEVELS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE REMAIN IN DR CONGO

On September 30, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) released a report on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), showing that more than two victims and survivors were being treated per hour in 2023. This alarming figure is based on data from 17 MSF projects, with support from the Ministry of Health, in five Congolese provinces: North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, Maniema and Central Kasai. Compared to 2020 to 2022, 2023 saw a dramatic increase in admissions and victims of sexual violence, with MSF treating more than 25,000 survivors over the course of the year. This trend has accelerated in early 2024, with teams covering nearly 70 percent of the 2023 total in the first five months of 2024 alone.

According to the data, 91 percent of victims treated with MSF assistance in 2023 were admitted to North Kivu, where repeated clashes between the March 23 Movement armed group, the Congolese army and their respective allies continue . Significant escalations over the past two years have forcibly displaced millions of Congolese, with the majority of displaced people sheltering in overcrowded, makeshift sites and collective shelters outside the provincial capital of Goma, where protection measures are inadequate.

Displaced women and girls in North Kivu are at particularly increased risk of sexual violence and assault while conducting livelihood activities in and around IDP camps. According to the report, most of the victims were women living in displaced persons camps around Goma and were attacked while searching for food and water or while working in the fields.

Sexual violence has historically been used as a deliberate weapon of war in the DRC, with tens of thousands of Congolese surviving systematic rape, sexual exploitation, sexual slavery and other forms of gender-based violence. Sexual violence is once again being used as a weapon of war to terrorize and control communities.

Survivors urgently need protection, as well as psychosocial and medical support. The international community must step up humanitarian efforts for displaced populations. Improving living conditions in IDP camps is critical, including ensuring safe access to adequate food, water, safe sanitation and shelter. Government authorities must investigate, prosecute and hold accountable all perpetrators of sexual violence. Authorities should ensure security at IDP sites in accordance with their primary obligation to protect civilians under international humanitarian law and in a manner that respects international human rights law.

ICC RECEIVES ARREST WARRANTS FOR SIX MEN LINKED TO ABUSE LIBYAN MILITIA

On October 4, the Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) released arrest warrants against six militia members who have allegedly committed war crimes in the city of Tarhunah, Libya since 2015. In a statement, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said the suspects were leaders or senior members of the Al-Kaniyat militia and Libyan security officials linked to the militia at the time of the alleged crimes. The Al-Kaniyat militia controlled Tarhunah from 2015 to mid-2020. The Court has received a wide range of credible information showing that residents of Tarhunah have been victims of crimes amounting to war crimes, including murder, insults to personal dignity, cruel treatment, torture, sexual violence and rape.

Recalling a visit to Tarhunah in 2022, Chief Prosecutor Khan said: “I heard stories of people being held in appalling and inhumane conditions, and saw farms and dumps turned into mass graves. I have seen the courageous work of Libyan forensic experts trying to excavate remains so that together we can achieve justice for the victims. I heard from mothers who no longer wanted to live in their homes because of the pain caused by the memories of their sons being taken from them before their eyes.”

A UN-mandated fact-finding mission (FFM) to Libya previously documented abuses in Tarhunah. In its 2022 report, the FFM documented the discovery of mass graves containing hundreds of victims, most of whom were handcuffed and blindfolded and showed evidence of torture. The FFM warned that there could be as many as a hundred locations with remains of victims in the city. The mission also documented evidence of Al-Kaniyat’s torture methods, including sometimes locking those they kidnapped in small oven-like structures, which were set on fire during interrogations.

In addition to the abuses documented around Tarhunah, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has warned of continued systematic and widespread violations across the country. In its August 2024 report, UNSMIL documented ongoing arbitrary arrests and detentions of political opponents and civil society, as well as torture and abuse in custody. UNSMIL also reported that the integration of Al-Kaniyat into the formal security forces has been an obstacle to both accountability and the safety and security of residents.

While justice in Libya has remained elusive, through both international and domestic processes, lifting the arrest warrants is the first step toward accountability for these crimes. The international community must continue to support the end of impunity in Libya, including through the ICC investigations and by transferring those with arrest warrants to the custody of the Court.