E. Violations and abuses of international human rights law

306. The Commission concludes on reasonable grounds that serious violations and abuses of international human rights law were committed by members of Hamas military wing and of other Palestinian armed groups in Israel, and by civilians from Gaza taking part in hostilities, in the attack on 7 October 2023. The violations include the violations of the right to life¹ and the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.² Furthermore, the Commission also finds on reasonable grounds that members of Hamas military wing and of other Palestinian armed grouped violated the right to liberty and security of the civilians captured and detained³ and unlawfully interfered with the civilians’ privacy, family and home.⁴
307. Serious human rights violations have been committed against women and girls, including several acts that deprive women and girls of fundamental human rights, such as the right to life, the right to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and the right to liberty and security of person.⁵ Israeli women have been subjected to gender-based violence such as physical, sexual and psychological violence, including threats of such acts, coercion and arbitrary deprivation of liberty. The Commission reiterates that violence against women and girls, according to General Recommendation 30 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, is a form of discrimination prohibited by the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women and a violation of human rights.⁶
308. Serious human rights violations were also committed against children on 7 October 2023, in contravention of the special protection accorded to children and their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child . Acts committed against children detailed in this report amount to violations of the right to life, survival and development, and may constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including all forms of physical and mental violence.⁷ Where children were also made to witness cruel and inhuman treatment, including killing and injuring, of their family members, this constitutes a violation of the respect for the family environment under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.⁸ The Commission highlights that all actions concerning children must take into account, as a primary consideration, the best interests of the children. ⁹

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Sources:

Footnotes

1. ICCPR, art. 6(1). ↩

2. ICCPR, art. 7. ↩

3. ICCPR, art. 9(1). ↩

4. ICCPR, art. 17(1). ↩

5. General recommendation 19, paras 6 and 7. ↩

6. General recommendation 30, para.34. ↩

7. CRC, arts. 6 and 37. See also ICCPR, arts. 6(1) and 7. ↩

8. CRC, arts. 9 and 11. ↩

9. ICCEvaluating digital open-source imagery: a guide for judges and fact-finders, art. 3. ↩