United Nations-backed human rights experts on Thursday accused Israel of “the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence” in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Mara Bernasconi, Policy & Advocacy Advisor at Handicap International, who has been supervising aid distribution in the region.
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00This is apropos. Well, Israel is being accused of carrying out genocidal acts in Gaza through
00:08the destruction of its main IVF clinic, maternity hospitals and other reproductive health care
00:14facilities. In one of the most extensive reports of its kind, UN-backed human rights experts
00:20claim that Israel had systematically used sexual, reproductive and other gender-based
00:26violence in its war with Hamas. The authors of the report said the wider harm to pregnant
00:32and new mothers was on an unprecedented scale and would have an irreversible impact.
00:40Our report finds that Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms
00:45of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their
00:51right to self-determination. It also concludes that Israel has carried out genocidal acts
00:57through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive health care facilities.
01:02The report documents a broad range of violations perpetrated against Palestinian women, men,
01:09girls and boys across the occupied Palestinian territory since 7 October 2023 that constitutes
01:17a major element in the ill-treatment of Palestinians and are part of the unlawful occupation and
01:23persecution of Palestinians as a group. The UN also this week accused Israel of weaponising
01:29humanitarian aid with its blockade of goods and electricity into Gaza. No aid has been
01:35allowed into the besieged territory since the start of this month and electricity supplies
01:39were cut last weekend. Some civilians say they're now resorting to burning plastic to
01:44produce fuel in the rubble of their destroyed homes. Florent Marchais has the details.
01:52This man is burning plastic to make liquid fuel. 15 months of Israeli bombardment and
01:58a blockade on deliveries of food, medicine and other goods has forced Gazans to make
02:03do with limited resources.
02:08We extract fuel from refined plastic materials that contain petroleum. We derive gasoline
02:13and diesel from the plastic though it's not 100% pure. It's suitable for cars though.
02:18We manage with it since we live under occupation and siege.
02:29Fumes rise from this furnace. This man is only wearing a thin surgical mask to protect
02:35himself from the toxic chemicals released from the burning plastic.
02:41We face difficulties because the fumes contain toxins but we have to keep working to meet
02:46people's needs. I also need the money to support my family.
02:53This taxi driver offers a reason for why Gazans might be looking for alternatives to conventional
02:57gasoline.
03:01The situation is very difficult now due to the high cost of fuel and clients are also
03:07suffering because of increased transportation costs.
03:15As Gazans fill these makeshift furnaces with junkyard plastics, Israel continues to halt
03:20humanitarian aid shipments to the Gaza Strip and has cut off electricity to its two million
03:25residents.
03:26For more, we're joined in studio now by Mara Bernasconi. She's advocacy and policy manager
03:33for the Middle East at the HI Network.
03:36Mara, thanks so much for coming into us this evening. We do appreciate your time.
03:40You have been to Gaza for the first time just a few weeks ago.
03:45We saw some of the conditions in that report.
03:48How are people living there?
03:49How was it to be there and to see that first hand?
03:53First of all, thank you for having me.
03:55I was there for a few days, actually 10 days at the beginning of February, when the ceasefire
04:05was in place since two weeks.
04:11There was for sure a lot of hope because the ceasefire started and we started to scale
04:18up immediately our activities, not only humanity and inclusion and the international, but also
04:25all the other humanitarian actors.
04:29When I spoke with people, there was a cautious happiness because we all knew that ceasefire
04:38was fragile, but we were also hoping to do our best to continuously help people.
04:48As we know, the humanitarian aid since 13 days now is blocked and we cannot serve people.
04:57There is no fuel.
04:58There is no electricity because it's been cut.
05:01There is no water.
05:02There are no human conditions.
05:05So the people are going back to the situation that there was before, where they have to
05:14choose how many meals per day to have in order to facilitate at least to having their children
05:22eating.
05:23And as you say, since you've been back from Gaza, aid has been cut off again, electricity
05:29supplies have been cut since last weekend.
05:32What more do you think needs to be done as somebody who has been to Gaza to put pressure
05:38on Israel to row back on these kind of initiatives?
05:42This is exactly what my colleagues and the people I met were asking me.
05:50Actually, they were saying, what do you need at the international community level still
05:58to see or to hear?
06:00Maybe you don't see us enough.
06:02Maybe you don't consider us as human anymore because there have been a lot of dehumanizing
06:12words and actions done.
06:17So why are you not acting?
06:21And indeed, it is not an answer that as humanitarian workers we can give, because if we are put
06:29in the condition, we are, of course, ready to scale up, to enter again with the aid and
06:37to try to build an early recovery phase or a reconstruction phase and to give a dignified
06:47life along with our colleagues and with our activities.
06:54As of now, this cannot happen due to, of course, political willingness.
06:59And given the current situation, then, when do you think that help is going to be able
07:03to get to these people who desperately need it, especially those who have been injured?
07:08You work with a lot of people who have difficulties with movement, who've been very badly wounded
07:13in the war.
07:14What is the situation for them currently?
07:17Ceasefire, unfortunately, didn't change the condition for a person with disabilities.
07:24There are for sure 25% of the people injured, and we are talking about 100,000 people injured,
07:3925% of them will have life-changing injuries.
07:45In addition to the person with disabilities, physical disabilities, we are not even considering
07:51the mental ones that were already in Gaza.
07:56So their situation, their condition are terrible.
08:00There are no medicines, hospital, the system, the health system is not existing anymore,
08:07is not only collapsed, doesn't exist, medicines cannot enter.
08:12We are trying our best because we were able to let, during the ceasefire window, to enter
08:19with our trucks, with assisted medical devices.
08:22So elbow crutches, wheelchairs, air mattresses, kits for wounded people.
08:31So we were able to scale up and to increase the help, but of course, a person with disability,
08:38with a physical disability, cannot move on a wheelchair if everywhere there are rubbles.
08:44So ruins are everywhere, and the ruins are littered with unexploded remnants of war.
08:52So another additional threat posed to all the population.
08:57Persons with disabilities, of course, are living an additional challenge due to their
09:03vulnerability.
09:04And what kind of longer-term solutions are needed?
09:08Ceasefire.
09:11Ceasefire is needed, and to have a tremendous increase of humanitarian aid.
09:20Before October 2023, there were 500 trucks entering, humanitarian aid trucks, not commercial ones.
09:31And then last December, that was more or less the trend for the entire 2024, there were 73 trucks.
09:42Then the ceasefire happened, and we went back to the 500 allowed by the Israeli authorities.
09:52And the point is that we need more.
09:55We don't need to stop the aid, especially now, but we need, with a ceasefire, to respect it,
10:03and also to respect the international humanitarian law, and to let aid in.
10:07We need to do our job, we need to serve people.
10:10And Mari, you've also been to the occupied West Bank, you were there last year.
10:14Since then, an ongoing Israeli operation there, tens of thousands of people have been displaced.
10:21Where can they go?
10:23Nowhere, they don't have any place, they don't.
10:26I was in Jenin last year, last May, to visit our partner.
10:36We have a physical rehabilitation centre run by a partner,
10:43and nowadays I would never even be able to reach them,
10:48there are blockages because it's completely impossible to move,
10:55especially in Jenin, as we know, Tulkarem, and people don't have any place to go.
11:03Mari, we'll have to leave it there for now, unfortunately we are out of time.
11:06We do really appreciate you taking the time to come in to us this evening
11:09and to share your experiences and all your analysis there.
11:13That is Mara Bernasconi, Advocacy and Policy Manager for the Middle East at HI Network.
11:18Thanks so much.