On Sunday, we woke up to the news that six Israeli hostages were executed by Hamas, just before soldiers reached them in a tunnel in Gaza. Another six, added to tens of thousands of people in this land who should not have died over the past year. During this week, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets. They feel angry, desperate and betrayed by their government. They have understood, perhaps for the first time, that the Israeli government does not want to return the hostages in a deal, but to continue the war indefinitely. 

They see that the occupation and the settlements matter more than human life - and not only of Palestinians, said B'Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak, who addressed the UN Security Council last night (Wednesday) . B’Tselem - the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was invited by the Slovenian President of the Security Council to provide an expert review of the state of human rights in Israel/Palestine following the war.Novak added “Since the criminal Hamas-led attack on October 7th, I and every Israeli I know have been living in deep anxiety. 

The government is cynically exploiting our collective trauma to violently advance its project of cementing Israeli control over the entire land. To do that, it is waging war on the entire Palestinian people, including committing war crimes almost daily”.Watch B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak’s address to the UNSC.Address to the United Nations Security Council by Yuli Novak, Executive Director of B’Tselem,In a meeting regard the situation in the West Bank and Gaza4.9.2024Members of the Security Council, It is an honor to address the Security Council today and I thank the Slovenian Presidency for the opportunity to talk to you about the state of human rights in Israel/Palestine at this time.On Sunday, we woke up to the news that six Israeli hostages were executed by Hamas, just before soldiers reached them in a tunnel in Gaza. Another six, added to tens of thousands of people in this land who should not have died over the past year.During this week, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets. 

They feel angry, desperate and betrayed by their government. They have understood, perhaps for the first time, that the Israeli government does not want to return the hostages in a deal, but to continue the war indefinitely.

They see that the occupation and the settlements matter more than human life - and not only of Palestinians.To understand the Israeli government’s criminal conduct over the last eleven months, you have to understand the overall goal of the regime. Since Israel was founded, the guiding logic of its regime has been to promote Jewish supremacy over the entire territory under its control. This was enshrined as a constitutional principle six years ago. The current government's guidelines state that: "The Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all parts of the Land of Israel."In the criminal Hamas-led attack on October 7th, twelve hundred Israelis were killed and two hundred and fifty taken hostage. Since that day, I and every Israeli I know have been living in deep fear. The government is cynically exploiting our collective trauma to violently advance its project of cementing Israeli control over the entire land. 

To do that, it is waging war on the entire Palestinian people – committing war crimes almost daily.In Gaza, this has taken the form of expulsion, starvation, killing, and destruction on an unprecedented scale.This goes beyond revenge - Israel is using the opportunity to promote an ideological agenda: making Gaza uninhabitable.As this council has been informed repeatedly, a vast part of Gaza’s homes and infrastructure have been completely destroyed. 

By driving Palestinians out of entire areas and displacing millions, Israel is laying the groundwork for long-term control of Gaza that could lead to re-establishing Israeli settlements there.In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the government is exploiting the circumstances to create irreversible changes. Since October, Israeli forces have killed six hundred and forty Palestinians there, including at least a hundred and forty minors. Settlers are attacking Palestinians and carrying out pogroms in broad daylight, with support from the government. 

They have so far managed to drive 19 communities out of their homes.Recently, the military launched a huge operation to damage infrastructure that serves hundreds of thousands of people in the northern West Bank.The international community did not stop Israel’s criminal policy of massive harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza. Now, it is spilling over into the West Bank.Meanwhile, Palestinian citizens of Israel are suffering an almost total suppression for their freedom of expression and freedom of protest, with hundreds arrested.

The war on Palestinians is also happening inside prisons. Since October, Israel has arrested thousands of Palestinians and held them in inhumane conditions. Last month, we at B’Tselem published a report called "Welcome to Hell," we uncovered a shocking pattern of abuse that amounts to torture. The government has used the war to turn Israeli prisons into a network of torture camps for Palestinians.*This violence is possible because Israel has enjoyed impunity for decades, allowing it to carry out its policies, with almost no interruption.As long as this impunity continues, the killing and destruction will continue and expand ----VV and fear will continue to rule the land.The international community has failed its duty to protect civilians. Four UN Security Council resolutions on the Gaza conflict did not lead to a lasting ceasefire or free the hostages.

The risk of regional escalation has grown. Diplomatic efforts did not stop the mass killing of civilians and humanitarian disaster in Gaza.The Council must acknowledge this failure and take effective action to compel Israel and Hamas to immediately and permanently cease all hostilities.But de-escalation is only the first step.

It is time for the Council to address the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the illegality of Israel’s entire occupation and settlement project.Every day the Council does not act on the court’s call to end the occupation and apartheid, is another day you are abandoning us – the people suffering and dying needlessly under this cruel and unjust regime.