UN experts accuse Israel of genocidal acts and sexual violence in Gaza

FRANCE 24 English

United Nations-backed human rights experts on Thursday accused Israel of “the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence” in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Mara Bernasconi, Policy & Advocacy Advisor at Handicap International, who has been supervising aid distribution in the region.   Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00This is apropos. Well, Israel is being accused of carrying out genocidal acts in Gaza through

00:08the destruction of its main IVF clinic, maternity hospitals and other reproductive health care

00:14facilities. In one of the most extensive reports of its kind, UN-backed human rights experts

00:20claim that Israel had systematically used sexual, reproductive and other gender-based

00:26violence in its war with Hamas. The authors of the report said the wider harm to pregnant

00:32and new mothers was on an unprecedented scale and would have an irreversible impact.

00:40Our report finds that Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms

00:45of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their

00:51right to self-determination. It also concludes that Israel has carried out genocidal acts

00:57through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive health care facilities.

01:02The report documents a broad range of violations perpetrated against Palestinian women, men,

01:09girls and boys across the occupied Palestinian territory since 7 October 2023 that constitutes

01:17a major element in the ill-treatment of Palestinians and are part of the unlawful occupation and

01:23persecution of Palestinians as a group. The UN also this week accused Israel of weaponising

01:29humanitarian aid with its blockade of goods and electricity into Gaza. No aid has been

01:35allowed into the besieged territory since the start of this month and electricity supplies

01:39were cut last weekend. Some civilians say they're now resorting to burning plastic to

01:44produce fuel in the rubble of their destroyed homes. Florent Marchais has the details.

01:52This man is burning plastic to make liquid fuel. 15 months of Israeli bombardment and

01:58a blockade on deliveries of food, medicine and other goods has forced Gazans to make

02:03do with limited resources.

02:08We extract fuel from refined plastic materials that contain petroleum. We derive gasoline

02:13and diesel from the plastic though it's not 100% pure. It's suitable for cars though.

02:18We manage with it since we live under occupation and siege.

02:29Fumes rise from this furnace. This man is only wearing a thin surgical mask to protect

02:35himself from the toxic chemicals released from the burning plastic.

02:41We face difficulties because the fumes contain toxins but we have to keep working to meet

02:46people's needs. I also need the money to support my family.

02:53This taxi driver offers a reason for why Gazans might be looking for alternatives to conventional

02:57gasoline.

03:01The situation is very difficult now due to the high cost of fuel and clients are also

03:07suffering because of increased transportation costs.

03:15As Gazans fill these makeshift furnaces with junkyard plastics, Israel continues to halt

03:20humanitarian aid shipments to the Gaza Strip and has cut off electricity to its two million

03:25residents.

03:26For more, we're joined in studio now by Mara Bernasconi. She's advocacy and policy manager

03:33for the Middle East at the HI Network.

03:36Mara, thanks so much for coming into us this evening. We do appreciate your time.

03:40You have been to Gaza for the first time just a few weeks ago.

03:45We saw some of the conditions in that report.

03:48How are people living there?

03:49How was it to be there and to see that first hand?

03:53First of all, thank you for having me.

03:55I was there for a few days, actually 10 days at the beginning of February, when the ceasefire

04:05was in place since two weeks.

04:11There was for sure a lot of hope because the ceasefire started and we started to scale

04:18up immediately our activities, not only humanity and inclusion and the international, but also

04:25all the other humanitarian actors.

04:29When I spoke with people, there was a cautious happiness because we all knew that ceasefire

04:38was fragile, but we were also hoping to do our best to continuously help people.

04:48As we know, the humanitarian aid since 13 days now is blocked and we cannot serve people.

04:57There is no fuel.

04:58There is no electricity because it's been cut.

05:01There is no water.

05:02There are no human conditions.

05:05So the people are going back to the situation that there was before, where they have to

05:14choose how many meals per day to have in order to facilitate at least to having their children

05:22eating.

05:23And as you say, since you've been back from Gaza, aid has been cut off again, electricity

05:29supplies have been cut since last weekend.

05:32What more do you think needs to be done as somebody who has been to Gaza to put pressure

05:38on Israel to row back on these kind of initiatives?

05:42This is exactly what my colleagues and the people I met were asking me.

05:50Actually, they were saying, what do you need at the international community level still

05:58to see or to hear?

06:00Maybe you don't see us enough.

06:02Maybe you don't consider us as human anymore because there have been a lot of dehumanizing

06:12words and actions done.

06:17So why are you not acting?

06:21And indeed, it is not an answer that as humanitarian workers we can give, because if we are put

06:29in the condition, we are, of course, ready to scale up, to enter again with the aid and

06:37to try to build an early recovery phase or a reconstruction phase and to give a dignified

06:47life along with our colleagues and with our activities.

06:54As of now, this cannot happen due to, of course, political willingness.

06:59And given the current situation, then, when do you think that help is going to be able

07:03to get to these people who desperately need it, especially those who have been injured?

07:08You work with a lot of people who have difficulties with movement, who've been very badly wounded

07:13in the war.

07:14What is the situation for them currently?

07:17Ceasefire, unfortunately, didn't change the condition for a person with disabilities.

07:24There are for sure 25% of the people injured, and we are talking about 100,000 people injured,

07:3925% of them will have life-changing injuries.

07:45In addition to the person with disabilities, physical disabilities, we are not even considering

07:51the mental ones that were already in Gaza.

07:56So their situation, their condition are terrible.

08:00There are no medicines, hospital, the system, the health system is not existing anymore,

08:07is not only collapsed, doesn't exist, medicines cannot enter.

08:12We are trying our best because we were able to let, during the ceasefire window, to enter

08:19with our trucks, with assisted medical devices.

08:22So elbow crutches, wheelchairs, air mattresses, kits for wounded people.

08:31So we were able to scale up and to increase the help, but of course, a person with disability,

08:38with a physical disability, cannot move on a wheelchair if everywhere there are rubbles.

08:44So ruins are everywhere, and the ruins are littered with unexploded remnants of war.

08:52So another additional threat posed to all the population.

08:57Persons with disabilities, of course, are living an additional challenge due to their

09:03vulnerability.

09:04And what kind of longer-term solutions are needed?

09:08Ceasefire.

09:11Ceasefire is needed, and to have a tremendous increase of humanitarian aid.

09:20Before October 2023, there were 500 trucks entering, humanitarian aid trucks, not commercial ones.

09:31And then last December, that was more or less the trend for the entire 2024, there were 73 trucks.

09:42Then the ceasefire happened, and we went back to the 500 allowed by the Israeli authorities.

09:52And the point is that we need more.

09:55We don't need to stop the aid, especially now, but we need, with a ceasefire, to respect it,

10:03and also to respect the international humanitarian law, and to let aid in.

10:07We need to do our job, we need to serve people.

10:10And Mari, you've also been to the occupied West Bank, you were there last year.

10:14Since then, an ongoing Israeli operation there, tens of thousands of people have been displaced.

10:21Where can they go?

10:23Nowhere, they don't have any place, they don't.

10:26I was in Jenin last year, last May, to visit our partner.

10:36We have a physical rehabilitation centre run by a partner,

10:43and nowadays I would never even be able to reach them,

10:48there are blockages because it's completely impossible to move,

10:55especially in Jenin, as we know, Tulkarem, and people don't have any place to go.

11:03Mari, we'll have to leave it there for now, unfortunately we are out of time.

11:06We do really appreciate you taking the time to come in to us this evening

11:09and to share your experiences and all your analysis there.

11:13That is Mara Bernasconi, Advocacy and Policy Manager for the Middle East at HI Network.

11:18Thanks so much.

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