Palestinian Territory – The United States continues to support Israel through diplomatic influence and extensive political, military, and security assistance, including funding, weapons, ammunition, spare parts, logistical backing, and intelligence cooperation, thereby enabling the continuation of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
This constitutes a serious violation of the United States' obligations under international law and the Genocide Convention, particularly its duty to prevent genocide and refrain from aiding or abetting its commission.
Unconditional US support is reflected in the continuation of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, including the killing of civilians and attacks on residential areas and shelters, alongside the ongoing blockade and intensified restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid, basic materials, and shelter supplies. These measures have exacerbated the displacement of hundreds of thousands by preventing their return to their areas of origin through military force and leaving them without access to food, water, healthcare, or shelter, amounting to the systematic destruction of the civilian population.
Unconditional US support is reflected in the continuation of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, including the killing of civilians and attacks on residential areas and shelters
The United States' support for Israel in conditioning progress on the ceasefire on the return of the last Israeli body from Gaza constitutes shameful complicity in ongoing ceasefire violations, the siege, the displacement of civilians, and the destruction of what remains of their homes. The fate of more than two million people in the Gaza Strip must never be made contingent on conditions that are difficult to fulfil on the ground.
In addition to Israel's responsibility, the United States administration bears responsibility for the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip by providing aid and support that enable Israel to pursue its policies on the ground, and by conditioning measures to protect civilians and alleviate their suffering on security, logistical, and procedural requirements that are prolonged or effectively unattainable amid the systematic destruction of around 85 per cent of the Gaza Strip.
This approach perpetuates restrictions on fulfilling basic needs and reinforces an illegitimate conflation of negotiation processes with guaranteed human rights, which must be implemented immediately and without compromise under any pretext.
The United States' shielding of Israel has led to exposing civilians in the Gaza Strip to a heightened risk of death under coercive living conditions. In December alone, around 18 civilians died as a result of severe storms, including five children who died from extreme cold. During the same period, wind and rain destroyed more than 27,000 tents and caused the collapse of over 20 homes previously damaged by bombardment, where residents were forced to live due to the absence of alternatives. Israel continues to block the entry of temporary shelter solutions, including caravans, and prohibits the entry of equipment and materials required for reconstruction and rubble removal.
Israel is exploiting the current situation to continue implementing its policies in the Gaza Strip, having directly killed nearly 400 Palestinians since the ceasefire was declared on 10 October. In parallel, the Israeli army is accelerating the systematic destruction of what remains of buildings east of the Yellow Line through bulldozing, demolitions, daily airstrikes, and artillery shelling, intending to consolidate effective military control over around 53 per cent of the Gaza Strip, reshaping its geography and demography in a manner that serves genocide and leads to the physical erasure of Gaza's population as a protected group.
The current situation risks the total collapse of the health sector in the Gaza Strip due to sustained pressure on health facilities, Israel's continued refusal to allow the entry of essential medical equipment, supplies, and devices, and the obstruction of reconstruction work at hospitals and medical centres destroyed by the Israeli army, particularly in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel continues to prevent the opening of the Rafah crossing to evacuate more than 18,000 wounded and sick people for treatment abroad, while more than 1,000 patients have died awaiting medical evacuation since July 2024, according to World Health Organization data.
The US support for Israel extends beyond political and military cover and directly contributes to conditions that render life in the Gaza Strip unsustainable by obstructing effective humanitarian responses and undermining civilians' means of survival and resilience.
This approach constitutes a grave breach of states' obligations to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and entails the legal responsibility of the United States for the catastrophic consequences of the ongoing blockade, starvation, and deliberate denial of shelter and primary healthcare. As a state capable of influencing Israel and acting with full knowledge of the seriousness of the violations, the United States bears responsibility for contributing to the continuation of this unlawful situation and for failing to prevent violations and ensure respect for international law.
As a High Contracting Party to the Geneva Conventions and the Genocide Convention, the United States is legally obliged to ensure respect for international humanitarian law in all circumstances and to take necessary measures to prevent genocide, including refraining from providing political, military, or security support that enables Israel to continue committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Washington's continued provision of weapons and diplomatic cover to Israel, despite knowledge of the risk that they may be used to commit internationally prohibited acts, constitutes a breach of the duty to prevent genocide and not to aid or assist in internationally wrongful acts, and is inconsistent with the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice to prevent genocide.
Israel, as a party to the armed conflict and an occupying power bound by international humanitarian law and the Genocide Convention, bears a legal obligation to cease immediately all unlawful attacks against civilians and civilian objects, end genocide in all its forms, ensure the unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid, relief, and shelter supplies without obstacles or political conditions, and completely refrain from policies of forced displacement. This includes guaranteeing the right of displaced persons to safe return to their places of residence throughout the Gaza Strip, as an inherent right guaranteed under international law that may not be restricted or forfeited by unlawful military orders or statutes of limitation.
The United States must immediately cease all political, military, and logistical support to Israel and comply with its legal obligations under international law, particularly the duty to prevent genocide and refrain from contributing to or facilitating its commission in any form.
The international community must take immediate and concrete measures to stop the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, including suspending the transfer of weapons, ammunition, spare parts, and related services to Israel; halting military, security, intelligence, and logistical cooperation that facilitates the commission or continuation of crimes; imposing restrictions on financial and commercial activities, shipping, insurance, and financing that enable military operations or entrench their effects; and rejecting any arrangements that perpetuate forced displacement, prevent return, or impose permanent military control over parts of the enclave.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor urges the international community to establish an independent and public mechanism to verify the opening of crossings and ensure the urgent and unconditional flow of humanitarian aid, shelter equipment, fuel, and medical supplies, including temporary housing, rubble removal equipment, and reconstruction materials, without linking their entry to any political or security conditions. It further calls for ensuring the immediate, unconditional, and regular medical evacuation of the wounded and sick.
Relevant international bodies, foremost among them the International Criminal Court, must expedite ongoing investigations into crimes committed in the Gaza Strip and prosecute those responsible, including parties that provided protection or support contributing to the continuation of these crimes, to uphold the principle of no impunity.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing must act immediately within the mandate by issuing urgent appeals to Israel and influential states to demand the entry of temporary housing, rubble removal equipment, and materials required to reinforce homes without delay or restrictions, and by issuing a public statement outlining these demands and providing an urgent briefing to relevant UN bodies on the impact of preventing shelter and rubble removal on civilians' lives.
Euro-Med Monitor warns of an imminent catastrophe with the onset of winter, as hundreds of damaged and dilapidated buildings are expected to collapse on their inhabitants due to storms and rain, amid the absence of the capacity to repair them or provide safe housing alternatives.
