Israeli forces ‘systematically shut down Gaza’s internet’: Rights group
A new report on global internet shutdowns from Access Now has found that Israel restricted internet access in Gaza six times in 2024, the most of any country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
“Despite international condemnation, Israeli forces systematically shut down Gaza’s internet while destroying internet and telecommunications infrastructure,” the report said.
The restrictions coincided “with numerous documented atrocities and war crimes, including mass displacement, military targeting of shelters and hospitals, cutting off humanitarian aid, and constant bombardments of civilians”, the report added.
A Palestinian woman talks on her phone as she sits in the rubble of her home in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on May 31, 2024
UN experts appeal for Israel to repeal laws banning UNRWA
Ben Saul, UN special rapporteur on the promotion of human rights and counterterrorism, has called on Israel to repeal two laws preventing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from “fulfilling its international mandate to provide humanitarian relief and essential services”.
In October last year, Israel’s parliament passed two widely condemned bills, effectively banning UNRWA operations in Israel.
In a report published on February 19, Saul and 24 other independent UN experts said “certain provisions in these laws” – which came into effect at the end of last month – may violate international law.
The report also warned that “dismantling UNRWA outside a political process that includes an orderly conclusion of the Agency’s mandate” could risk “undermining the ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas.
HRW says EU officials should condemn ‘crimes against humanity’ at Israel meeting
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says European Union representatives meeting Israeli officials at the EU-Israel Association Council meeting in Brussels on Monday should use the opportunity to condemn Israel’s atrocity crimes.
“There can be no business as usual with a government responsible for crimes against humanity, including apartheid, and acts of genocide, and whose sitting prime minister is wanted for atrocity crimes by the International Criminal Court,” said Claudio Francavilla, associate EU director at HRW.
“The only purpose of this Association Council meeting should be to call out those crimes and to announce long-overdue measures in response,” Francavilla added.
UN calls for probe into ‘grave violations of international law’ in Israel, occupied territory
We have some remarks delivered by Volker Turk during the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“In Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, where the suffering has been unbearable, I repeat my call for an independent investigation into grave violations of international law, committed by Israel in the course of its attacks across Gaza, and by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups,” the UN rights chief said.
“Any sustainable solution must be based on accountability, justice, the right to self-determination, and the human rights and dignity of both Israelis and Palestinians,” he added.
Referring to US President Donald Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza, Turk said: “Any suggestion of forcing people from their land is completely unacceptable.”
