Ref: 02/2015 

On Tuesday, 27 January
2015, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) received the Representative
of India to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mr. Mahish Kumar, and an
accompanying delegation in PCHR’s head office in Gaza City.

Mr. Kumar and the
delegation met with Mr. Hamdi Shaqqura, Deputy Director of PCHR for Program
Affairs, who welcomed the visitors and briefed them on the human rights
situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially after the late
Israeli offensive.

Shaqqura asserted to
the delegation that the last Israeli offensive against the Gaza strip targeted civilian
lives and properties. Furthermore, he stressed that the Israeli forces showed
full neglect of civilians’ lives, disregarding the principles of proportionality
and distinction in the use of force during the offensive. According to Palestinian
human rights organizations, 75% of the victims were civilians, half of whom were
women and children.

The meeting also
tackled the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip, six months after the
offensive. Shaqqura highlighted the factors and reasons that led to increasing the
suffering which the offensive caused. He also demanded the international
community to end the Israeli impunity and stop Israeli violations and war
crimes against Palestinian civilians and their property.

The meeting also
highlighted the importance of ending the closure, which has been imposed on the
Gaza Strip for 8 years, and starting the process of reconstructing civilian
homes and public property. Furthermore, the meeting criticized Robert Siri’s reconstruction
plan.

Shaqqura explained to
the delegation the legal opportunities that are open for the Palestinian legal
struggle to end the Israeli occupation and prosecute Israeli war criminals, especially
after Palestine ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.