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Saturday, 18 July 2020_A UN human rights expert says the Israeli regime must end its “collective punishment” against Palestinians, which is “most strikingly seen” in its persisting siege against the Gaza Strip.
"It is an affront to justice and the rule of law to see that such methods continue to be used in the 21st century and that Palestinians collectively continue to be punished for the actions of a few,” said Michael Lynk on Friday.
Lynk, who is the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, also warned that Israeli punitive actions are harming millions of innocent people on a daily basis.
“These practices entail serious violations against Palestinians, including the right to life, freedom of movement, health, adequate shelter, and an adequate standard of living,” the UN official further said, after he submitted a report to the 44th session of the Human Rights Council this week.
Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007.
Since 2008, Israel has waged three wars against Gaza, where two million Palestinians live under a 12-year Israeli blockade. Thousands of Gazans have been killed in each of these deadly wars.
The crippling blockade has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the Gaza Strip.
“The extent of the devastating impact of Israel’s collective punishment policy can be most strikingly seen in its ongoing 13-year-old closure of Gaza, which now suffers from a completely collapsed economy, devastated infrastructure, and a barely functioning social service system,” Lynk further said.
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