RAMALLAH: On Tuesday Al-Haq, a Ramallah-based Palestinian NGO dedicated to combating human rights violations, issued a statement calling on foreign diplomats serving in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) to hold Israel accountable for its latest military offensive in the Gaza Strip. During an 8 day campaign, Israeli airstrikes killed over 160 Palestinians and injured over a thousand. Additionally, almost a thousand homes were damaged or destroyed. Millions of dollars of damage were inflicted on the narrow Gaza Strip before the fighting was put to a stop by an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire last Wednesday evening. Two Palestinian civilians were killed by gunfire Israeli soldiers during solidarity demonstrations in the occupied West Bank. Since the ceasefire went into effect, one Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire after placing a Hamas flag on the Gaza border fence and at least an additional 10 civilians were injured. According to Al-Haq, the United Nations and the European Union failed to act after the 2008-2009 Israeli military onslaughts in Gaza, known to Israelis as Operation Cast Lead and to the international community as the Gaza War, which killed over 1,400 Palestinians and lasted approximately three weeks. The statement called on the international community to act legally against potential Israeli violations of international law during the recent military campaign, for Israel to end the four and a half decade occupation of the West Bank and the land and naval blockade of Gaza, and on Palestinian militants to abide by international and humanitarian law. The full text is available below:
