8/11/2019 HR 1321 - Condemning Israeli War Crimes

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Rep

ubl

ic o he Phil ippi

nes

House

of Representatives

Batasan

Complex,

Quezon

City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

Second Regular Session

HOUSE

RESOLUTION

NO.

32

Introduced

by:

Gabriela

Women's Party Reps . LUZVIM INDA C. L

AGAN

and EMMI.

A. DE

JESUS

A RESOLUTION

EXPRESSING THE SENSE

OF

THE

HOUSE

OF

REPRESENTAT

S

CONDEMNING

THE

GRAVE VIOLATIONS

OF I

NTERNATIONAL HU

IT RJ

AN

LAW

AMOUNTING

TO

WAR CRIMES COMMITTED BY T

HE

ISRAELI DEFENSE FOR E I THE CONDUCT

OF ITS

MOST

RECENT INVASION ON GAZA

STRIP,

INDISCRIMINATELY KI

LU

G NARMED

CIVILIANS

INCLUDING

INNOCENT

WOMEN AND

CHILDREN AND CAL LING 0 ISRAEL

TO

IMMEDIATELY

RECALL

THE

INVASION

AND, FINALLY,

EXPRESS

I

NG

SUPPORT

TO THE

UNITED

NATIONS'

RESOLUTION

TO INVESTIGATE ISRAEL

WHEREAS,

on

July 08, 2014,

Israel

launched

a ground military offensive on u sensi

bly

in

order

to

flush out

urban

guerillas

belonging

to Hamas.

Dubbed

as

Operation

Pr

- - E e,

th

e

ground offensive is a virtual

invasion,

involving armored and

elite

command o u i ' e I

srae

li

Defense

Force

with air support from the Israeli Air

Force;

WHEREAS, Gaza is a strip of land 41 kilometers long and 6 to

12

kilometers

wide

, a i g

up

a total

area of

365

sq.

kilometers. It is an autonomo us

reg

i

on und

er

the

unity g

ave

e

nt

of

the

Palestinian Authority

and

Hamas. Since 1994, it

has

been fenced in

by

Israe l with i

gh con crete

border

barrie rs

to contain the movement of its Pales inia inh

abitants.

With a pop ulati

on

of 1.82

million,

abou

t 90 of which

are

Palestinian refugees ,

it

is

th

e most

compact area

a

nd

m

os

t densely

populated

par

t of the Mi

ddle

East;

WHEREAS, Israel i officials cla imed that

the

offensive would be a surgical operatio n that w

ould

only

strike at

spec ific ilitary

targ

ets. But as early as

day

1 of

th

e offensive, scores of innocent

Palestinian civilians iere alrea

dy

killed

by swee

ping Israeli ground attacks a

nd aer

ial

bombardmen t As the e sive w

ent

on,

built-up

civi lian areas , hospitals,

homes

for the di sab led,

mosques and scho ols r also interdicted for

indisc

riminate

destruc

tion;

8/11/2019 HR 1321 - Condemning Israeli War Crimes

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W

HEREAS,

it

has

been

widely

reported that the Israe li Defense

Force

is

using

flechette

shells in

the

invasion (The Guardian, Israel- using flec

hette shells

in Gaza ,

07/20/2014).

Flechette shells

are bombs

that, upon explos

ion,

spray metal

darts

in

a conical arch 300

meters

long and

80 meters wide. They

are

essentially

anti-personnel

weapons that

deliver 3

layers

of impact

on targets

,

thereby increasing the range

of casualties;

WHEREAS,

as of the 16

1

h day

of

the invasion, the death toll in Gaza has alread

y rea

ched 655 Palestinians

killed

and

4,220 wounded (Haaretz, LIVE

UPDATES:

Operation

Protective

Ed

ge, D

ay 16, 07/24/14). About

3/4 of the

death toll

are civilians, including 147 children.

Pa

lestinians escapi g from the invasion have

swelled the number of refugees in United Nations tent cities to 60,000

ibid

.). In co t

rast

, the

IDF

suffered

only 32

deaths

ibid.);

W

HEREAS,

the

invasion

has been so indiscriminate

that

even Israel s staunc

es

a

lli

es are censuring

Israel

for

the

I

DF s

lack of

precision in selecting

their targets. US Secr

etary

of Sta e K

erry

was

quoted

to have sarcastically

said,

It s a hell of a

pinpoint

operation (The

Huffington

Pos , Ker

ry s Hot

Mic

Reaction

to Gaza ,

07/20/14). The United

Nations

have also

noted

the high

level

civi

lian

casualties,

prompting

its

Human

Rights Council to propose an

inves

tig

ation,on Israel for war c

ri

es ( a

aretz,

ibid.);

W

HEREAS, the

I

sraeli invasion has also

indi

sc

riminately d

estroyed the

infrastruc

ture

of a e

es in Gaza.

Exacerbating the IDF s indiscriminate

m

litary

targeting is

the destruction of wate

r su

ppl

y sys e s, electric

power, food

and

medicine supply

lines

. Whole r

esiden ti

al blocks

have

been

reduced

into

rubb

l

es

and, as

hospitals and clinics are

bombed

to tota l destruction,

many

of

the dead

and

wounded

are merely left

unattended

in

the

streets.

All this has r

esul

ted in extreme

humanitarian crisis in

Gaza;

WHEREFORE, BE IT

RESOLVED AS

IT IS HE

REBY

RESOLVED THAT

the

House

of Representatives

pass and approve this

resolution

expressi

ng

i .s sense of condemnation

of

the grave vi

ol

ations

of

International

Humanitarian Law

amounting

to ar crimes

committed by the

Israeli Defense Force

in

the

conduct

of its

most

recent

invasion

on

Gaza Strip

,

indi

scriminately killing unarmed ci

vil ians,

including innocent women and

children;

AND ca

ll

ing on Israel to immediately recall the i

nvasion;

AND,

FINALLY,

expressing

support for the U reso

to in

vestigate Israel.