Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR) is a legal charity in the UK that works on projects focused on protecting and promoting Palestinian human rights.

While many parts of the world transition to mandatory lockdown, Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory face uncertainty about how they will be protected from the spread of COVID-19. This blog will focus on the circumstances of three particularly vulnerable population groups: i) the population of Gaza, ii) child and adult detainees in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, and iii) families and individuals displaced by home demolitions.

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Physicians for Human Rights Israel and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently reported that a 10-year-old girl from Gaza, Miral Abu Amsha, died of cancer on 28 February without having seen her father since December, after her family struggled to obtain Israeli-issued permits to accompany her to hospital. Miral’s mother had also initially been denied permission to accompany Miral to hospital in Nablus to undergo chemotherapy due to “incorrect details” on her application form. She was eventually allowed to visit Miral in hospital, reportedly following publicity around the case. Miral’s father didn’t apply for permission to accompany her as it is generally the case that only one accompanier is allowed per patient, including for children. (more…)

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s announcement that she is ready to open a criminal investigation into the situation in Palestine is a seminal step towards achieving legal accountability and justice for the many victims, survivors and their families of alleged serious international crimes perpetrated by Israeli forces and their military and political leadership.

The potential for the investigation to effectively prevent or deter the commission of ongoing and future crimes, by countering the systemic impunity that has prevailed until now, is also very significant.

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On 12 July 2019, nine-year-old ‘Abd a-Rahman a-Shteiwi was shot in the forehead by an Israeli soldier in Kafr Qaddum, in the occupied West Bank, during the town’s weekly protests against settlement expansion and settler violence. At the the time he was shot, ‘Abd was playing at the entrance of his friend’s house, over 100 metres away from demonstrators. The shot to ‘Abd’s forehead resulted in a large hole, multiple skull fractures and serious brain damage; a CT scan showed around 100 fragments lodged in the boy’s brain. Over three months since this grievous wounding, we have reports from two sources that he remains in hospital in a coma. (more…)