Observations from Gaza by Head of UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Ajith Sunghay

Yesterday, I returned from Gaza where I spent a couple of weeks working under the broader Protection Cluster - a broad-based group comprising UN agencies, local and international non-governmental organisations with protection mandates in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

It pains me to report the picture there is even worse than when I last joined the press briefing just over a month ago. The people of Gaza are suffering immensely. It truly is desperate.

People are on the move from north to south, again, although they are making the journey knowing it is fraught with danger. I saw a motorbike and trailer loaded with personal possessions smouldering on the road. There was no body. But it was clear no one could have survived the strike. On the same road, I saw a bloodied donkey cart also laden with personal belongings. It too was abandoned. Why and who carried out these attacks is not clear.

As people move from Gaza City to Middle Gaza, I observed several humanitarian responders, including protection actors, provide urgent services to the exhausted and repeatedly traumatized population at reception centres on Al Rasheed Road and Salah Ed Deen Road. Most people moved on donkey carts and horse carts, holding white flags. Many said that they had lost everything due to Israeli bombing, including their homes. One elderly woman, who fled from Gaza City on 11 July, said her husband was detained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at a checkpoint on his way to Deir Al Balah. She had no idea about his fate. Several others shared similar stories.

We are also seeing the outcome of Israel’s dismantling of local capacity to maintain public order and safety in Gaza. Our Office has documented alleged unlawful killings of local police and humanitarian workers, and the strangulation of supplies indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Anarchy is spreading.

The hostile environment due to the war and the breakdown in civil order also raises enormous challenges for any meaningful humanitarian response to the mammoth needs of the people.

In many of the makeshift IDP shelters, people struggle with the bare minimum of daily essentials. Tents made of plastic sheets we saw in the early stages of the conflict remain the only protection from the elements for thousands of Palestinians, 10 months into the escalation. Some informal education under tarpaulins and plastic sheets in the sweltering heat has begun. These nascent efforts to provide for children’s right to education must be nurtured and supported. Humanitarian and human rights entities are doing incredible work under impossible conditions, while trying hard to ensure respect for diversity and inclusion. Local NGOs are supporting an IDP camp that puts inclusivity at the heart of their response, fully taking on board the needs of disabled people. However, they stress that the challenges ahead of them are immense, including chronic shortages of assistive devices and funding.

Civil society groups have provided frontline protection from day one. They also stress the need for accountability for the gross human rights violations that have occurred.

One NGO mentioned that while talking about “the day after” and “rubble removal” seems distant and futile, it gives them hope that this war will end and that there will be reconstruction of Gaza founded on the rights of the Palestinian people and an end to the occupation. Women’s rights organisations shared information about sexual and gender-based violence, including in Israeli detention, but stressed that there is no space to talk about this while the war is ongoing. I heard accounts of women committing suicide due to their desperate living conditions and the terrible deterioration of mental health.

The continued attacks by Israel, the administrative rules imposed by Israel that impede the entry and delivery of daily essentials, permit rejections, hostile environment due to the war and the breakdown in civil order raises enormous challenges for any meaningful humanitarian response to the mammoth needs of the people and provide any protection.

Travelling through Israel, I have seen posters all along the roads, and messages for the release of hostages still held in Gaza.

The violence must end. There must be a ceasefire, and the hostages must be released. Reconstruction of Gaza must begin. And the occupation must end, accountability must be served and the internationally agreed two-State solution must become a reality.