In an extremely alarming UN-backed report published a couple of weeks ago, experts warned that famine is immediately imminent for 300,000 Palestinians residents in northern Gaza; that half the population of Gaza (1.1.million people) is facing famine between mid-March and mid-July; and that there is a marked increase in acute malnutrition among children (as well as pregnant and breast-feeding women) posing grave risks to their health and mortality. Concurrent to this report’s publication, deaths of children due to starvation began to be recorded by the World Health Organization and reported by ..read more

Today’s order of protective measures by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel to prevent the commission of all genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza is a much-needed light in the darkness. It is a historic day for clearly recognising the fundamental human rights of Palestinians, including their fundamental right to life, and an important vindication of the vital resort to law to uphold fundamental rights. With clarity and authority, the ICJ placed due primacy on the current “extreme vulnerability” of Palestinians in Gaza – whilst also importantly recognising the plight ..read more

A striking research article published by the United Nations Refugee & Works Agency (UNRWA) in August 2015 shows an increase in infant mortality rates among Palestinian refugee new-borns in Gaza for the first time in five decades. While infant mortality had declined to 20.2 per 1,000 live births in 2008, the following five years saw an increase to a rate of 22.4 per 1,000 live births in 2013. A substantial increase was also seen in the rate of neonatal mortality, meaning the number of babies that die before the age of four weeks. While the figure was 12 per 1,000 live births in 2008, it rea ..read more

Today is World Health Day: a suitable opportunity to take time to consider the connection between mental health, prolonged occupation and human rights violations. This connection was explicitly drawn at the inaugural meeting of the UK/Palestine Mental Health Network, which took place last Wednesday 2 April 2014 at the Guild of Psychotherapists in London. The meeting opened with two significant questions which demand contemplation by anyone engaged with Israel/Palestine: Why are mental health issues and the political situation so intertwined? How does mental health fit into human rights and un ..read more

According to data collected by UN OCHA, thousands of Israeli raids on occupied West Bank communities are conducted every year, many of them at night. In some of these raids, heavily armed Israeli forces arrest Palestinian children from their family homes in the middle of the night, often breaking into the family home before taking the terrified child from their bed. Military Court Watch has collected the testimonies of children and their parents, detailing this typically violent and traumatising practice. In recent testimony collected by Military Court Watch that provides acute insight into th ..read more

In March, B’Tselem reported that 19-month-old Fatimah al-Masri died from a cardiological condition after repeated applications to the Israeli authorities for permission to exit Gaza for essential medical treatment in a hospital in East Jerusalem were unsuccessful, remaining “under review” for months.A few months later, in August, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights reported that a six-year-old child, Farouq Mohammed Abu Naja, with a developmental regression condition, died after he was twice denied access to medical care at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. The UN Convention on the Rights of ..read more

Solitary confinement is defined by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules) as confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. The effects of solitary confinement on children can be particularly severe. This blog outlines these damaging effects. It also summarises the applicable international legal framework, including a key reference to the International Criminal Court. On 7 December 2021, the West Bank based human rights organisation Military Court Watch (MCW) published a report titled ‘Solitary Confinement’, reporting ..read more

On 1 September 2021, the Israeli High Court of Justice (IHCJ) confirmed that Israeli soldiers can enter and search Palestinian homes in the West Bank without a judicial warrant, whereas warrants are needed to search the homes of Israeli settlers living in the West Bank. The decision followed a petition by Israeli human rights organisations and Palestinian individuals seeking to limit the military’s wide power to enter and search Palestinian homes without a warrant. The decision was reported by Military Court Watch. The right to enter Palestinian homes at any time of day or night Since 1967, Is ..read more

In August, our colleagues at the UK charity, Friends of Birzeit University (Fobzu), conducted an in-depth interview with LPHR’s Aleisha Ebrahimi, following the significant decision of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that three female Birzeit University students are being unlawfully arbitrarily detained. The illuminating interview is republished below with Fobzu’s kind permission. Last year, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR) and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association submitted a complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentio ..read more

In the context of the imminent illegal dispossession and forcible transfer of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem, it has been documented that Israel’s forces have been using excessive force against peaceful Palestinian demonstrators and also targeted Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) personnel. This blog explores the applicable legal framework and consequences. Background The PRCS is an organisation whose mission is to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, particularly emergency medical services, and it is protected under international hu ..read more