Israel's war on Gaza has significantly impacted human rights: US State Department

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Israel's ongoing war on Gaza has "had a significant negative impact on the human rights situation in the country,” the US State Department said in its annual report released Monday.

"The conflict between Israel and (the Palestinian group) Hamas in Gaza continues to raise deeply troubling concerns for human rights," the report said.

Noting that Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed around 1,200 people, took approximately 230 hostages and committed abuses and sexual violence, the report said the US has "pressed concerns about Palestinian civilians’ access to humanitarian assistance, the displacement of the majority of the population of Gaza and the unprecedented number of journalists killed."

"We have repeatedly condemned Hamas’ abhorrent misuse of civilians and civilian infrastructure as human shields and its continued refusal to release all hostages. We also continue to condemn the record levels of violence in the West Bank, including attacks by violent extremist settlers against Palestinian civilians," the report said.

The report noted that the Israeli government took "some credible steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses."

It said that Israel's military response to the Oct. 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 21,000 Palestinians and the injury of more than 56,000 by the end of the year, the displacement of the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza and a severe humanitarian crisis with estimates of 50%-70% of the buildings in the enclave destroyed or damaged.

Citing the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the report said that 77 journalists and media workers had been killed since Oct. 7, including 72 Palestinians and two Israelis as well as three Lebanese journalists due to the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

Referencing the CPJ report, the State Department said that Palestinian and international journalists reporting in Israel and the West Bank faced assaults and threats from Israeli soldiers and settlers, naming several victims, including Anadolu photographer Mustafa Alkharouf, who was assaulted by Israeli police while covering Friday prayers on Dec. 15.

The report also cited concerns by human rights organizations over reports of systemic torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment of Palestinian detainees in prison facilities after Oct. 7.

- Annual human rights report

Besides the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the report also listed human rights violations in other countries around the world, including Russia's targeting of civilians in its war in Ukraine, violence, death and destruction by the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces and alleged human rights violations in Türkiye, China and Iran.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that the United States does not have double standards when it comes to Israel and human rights violations and it applies the "same standard" to other nations.

Asked if the US has double standards regarding its approach to the Israeli military’s reported human rights violations, Blinken said: "The answer is no."

In the report, Russia was accused of employing violence against civilians as a "deliberate tool of warfare.”

"Tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been transferred within Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine and/or deported to Russia, in many cases taken from their parents or lawful guardians and forced to take Russian names and citizenship," the report said, adding that Russia is "cracking down on its own citizens.”

- Türkiye

In the Türkiye section, the report cited observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) saying that citizens were "able to express their right to vote freely" during presidential and parliamentary elections in May but that "restrictions on freedoms of assembly, association and expression" negatively affected the state of human rights in the country.

The report listed other human right issues including arbitrary arrest or detention and restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom and accused the Turkish government of taking "limited steps to identify and punish some officials who may have committed human rights abuses."

In the report, the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which Ankara accuses of orchestrating the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Türkiye in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded, was called the "Gulen movement.”

The report also coitized Türkiye's operations against the PKK/YPG terrorist group in northern Iraq and Syria, saying the strikes resulted in civilian casualties, citing human rights organizations.

It said the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and the European Union, engaged in kidnappings and carried out attacks that claimed the lives of civilians.

- Syria

In the Syria section, the report said the YPG terror group, which the US refers to as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), oversaw more than 20 detention centers in northeast Syria holding approximately 9,000 Daesh/ISIS fighters and drew attention to the bad conditions of these prisons.

"Detainees were not provided with sufficient food and water, and medical care was lacking, raising concerns regarding malnutrition and the overall lack of medical supplies throughout the northeast region," the report said.

The report also said the YPG killed 74 civilians during the year, including nine children and 11 women.

Citing a UN report, it said that 1,688 children served in combat roles, attributing 637 verified cases to the YPG, and also reported the detention, torture and death of an elementary school teacher by the YPG.

It also cited a UN report saying that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the SDF “continue(d) to unlawfully deprive individuals of their liberty.”