Ref: 16/2014

 On Monday, 14 April 2014, PCHR organized a meeting to present a
report titled “Under Fire” that was jointly issued by the Palestinian
Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
(IDMC). The meeting was held in PCHR’s head office in Gaza City, where a number
of representatives of community-based and international organizations and media
agencies attended. 

The meeting was opened by Mr. Khalil Shaheen, Director of the
PCHR’s Economic and Social Rights’ Unit. He explained that the meeting was held
in the context of PCHR’s efforts to monitor and follow up the living conditions
of civilians in the Gaza Strip, especially under the Israeli-imposed closure on
the Gaza Strip for over 7 years and the constant Israeli attacks against
civilians who are protected according to the international humanitarian law.
Mr. Shaheen added that the report seeks to shed light on the Israeli violations
in the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) in land and sea in the Gaza Strip and on
the motivations and consequences of such violations in the ARA, including the
impacts related to internal displacement, health, financial conditions and
livelihood.

Lawyer Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR,
highlighted the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, pointing to the
Israeli-imposed closure on the Gaza Strip, which is illegal and inhumane and
constitutes a form of collective punishment against the Palestinian civilian
population in the Gaza Strip. He added that the closure has hindered any
communication between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on the one hand and the
Gaza Strip and the outside world on the other hand.  He explained that Israeli violations against
the Palestinian civilians in the ARA are a limited sample of the closure,
indicating that Israeli violations and restrictions imposed on the access to
livelihood reflect the daily suffering of fishermen and farmers in the Gaza
Strip. The Israeli measures in the ARA despoil 35% of the best agricultural
area and deny the Palestinian farmers and fishermen access to 85% of their
livelihood. Sourani pointed that “Under Fire” report was launched in
February in London in the presence of about 40 members of the European
Parliament, politicians and journalists. Sourani delivered a speech on that
occasion on the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip via Skype.

It should be mentioned that the report reveals
the devastating impacts of the Israeli practices in the ARA in land and sea in
the Gaza Strip.