Israel’s war on Gaza significantly impacted human rights, says US State Department

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Washington does not have ‘double standards’ on Israel’s reported human rights violations and applies the same standards to every country

The U.S. State Department criticized Israel’s ongoing conflict with Gaza, stating that it “had a significant negative impact on the human rights situation in the country” in its annual report released Monday.

“The conflict between Israel and (the Palestinian group) Hamas in Gaza continues to raise deeply troubling concerns for human rights,” the report said.

The report noted Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people and took approximately 230 hostages, committing abuses and sexual violence.

“We have repeatedly condemned Hamas’ abhorrent misuse of civilians and civilian infrastructure as human shields and its continued refusal to release all hostages,” the report said.

Israel’s ‘credible steeps’ resulted in the deaths of over 21,000 Palestinians

The Israeli government took “some credible steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses,” the report acknowledged.

Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 attack resulted in the deaths of over 21,000 Palestinians and the injury of over 56,000 by the end of the year.

The vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza were displaced, resulting in a severe humanitarian crisis, with estimates of 50%-70% of the buildings in the enclave destroyed or damaged.

CPJ reports 77 journalists killed since Oct. 7

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 77 journalists and media workers have been killed since Oct. 7, including 72 Palestinians and two Israelis, as well as three Lebanese journalists, because of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

Palestinian and international journalists reporting in Israel and the West Bank faced assaults and threats from Israeli soldiers and settlers, the report stated.

Israeli police assaulted Mustafa Alkharouf, an Anadolu Agency (AA) photographer while covering Friday prayers on Dec. 15.

The report also cited concerns by human rights organizations over reports of systemic torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment of Palestinian detainees in prison facilities after Oct. 7.

‘U.S. does not have double standards when it comes to Israeli crimes’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Monday that the United States does not have double standards for Israel and human rights violations and it applies the “same standard” to other countries.

Asked if the U.S. has double standards regarding its approach to the Israeli military’s reported human rights violations, Blinken said: “The answer is no.” 

Russia 

In the report, Russia was accused of employing violence against civilians as a “deliberate tool of warfare.”

“Tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been transferred within Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine and/or deported to Russia, in many cases taken from their parents or lawful guardians and forced to take Russian names and citizenship,” the report said, adding that Russia is “cracking down on its own citizens.”

Syria

In the Syria section, the report said the YPG terror group, which the U.S. refers to as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), oversaw over 20 detention centers in northeast Syria holding approximately 9,000 Daesh fighters and drew attention to the dire conditions of these prisons.

“Detainees were not provided with sufficient food and water, and medical care was lacking, raising concerns regarding malnutrition and the overall lack of medical supplies throughout the northeast region,” the report highlighted.

The report also underscored the YPG killed 74 civilians during the year, including nine children and 11 women.

A U.N. report emphasized that 1,688 children served in combat roles, attributing 637 verified cases to the YPG, and also reported the detention, torture and death of an elementary school teacher by the YPG.

It also cited a U.N. report saying there were reasonable grounds to believe that the SDF “continue(d) to deprive individuals of their liberty unlawfully.”

Türkiye

In the section providing details about Türkiye, the report cited observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) saying that citizens were “able to express their right to vote freely” during presidential and parliamentary elections in May but that “restrictions on freedoms of assembly, association and expression” negatively affected the state of human rights in the country.

The report listed other human rights issues, including arbitrary arrest or detention, restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom.

It accused the Turkish government of taking “limited steps to identify and punish some officials who may have committed human rights abuses.”

In the report, the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which Ankara accuses of orchestrating the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in Türkiye, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded, was called the “Gulen movement.”

The report also cited Türkiye’s operations against the PKK/YPG terrorist group in northern Iraq and Syria, saying the strikes resulted in civilian casualties, citing human rights organizations.

It said the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S., and the European Union, engaged in kidnappings and carried out attacks that claimed the lives of civilians.

Source: Newsroom

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