The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of Israel on 13 August 2024. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. Regrettably, the Government did not reply within this timeframe. If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topics: the indiscriminate bombing in Gaza that resulted in the killing of Palestinian human rights defenders Ms. Nour Nasser Abu-al-Nour and Ms. Dana Yaghi, and the destruction of the offices in Gaza of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR); the intense smear campaign by the Israeli group NGO Monitor against the Gaza-based PCHR and human rights organisations Addameer and Al-Haq, based in the occupied West Bank, as well as reports of Israeli surveillance of all three organisations.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is a non-governmental organisation for the defence and protection of human rights, based in Gaza. It was created in 1995 by a group of Palestinian lawyers and human rights defenders to protect human rights and promote the rule of law in accordance with international standards.
Ms. Nour Nasser Abu al-Nour was a human rights lawyer with the PCHR, documenting violations against women and children and providing legal consultations.
Ms. Dana Yaghi was a human rights lawyer with the PCHR, working in the organisation’s Women’s Rights Unit.
Al-Haq is a Ramallah-based independent non-governmental organisation, established in 1979, with the aim of defending human rights and promoting the rule of law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Al-Haq was the subject of two previous communications, AL ISR 8/2016 and AL ISR 12/2019 dated 2 August 2016 and 28 August 2019 respectively, concerning allegations of threats and smear campaigns against the organization.
Addameer is a Palestinian non-governmental organization that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. It provides free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates for their rights at the national and international levels, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns. Addameer was the subject of two previous communications AL ISR 13/2012 and AL ISR 13/2019, sent on 20 December 2012 and 7 October 2019 respectively, concerning alleged illegal Israeli military raids on the organisation’s office in Ramallah.
ALLEGATIONS
In the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas, Israel launched a full-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip and further tightened its 17-year siege, cutting off the people of Gaza from basic necessities including electricity, fuel, food, water and medical supplies. In addition to the imposed blockade, the Israeli military severely bombed the Gaza strip, destroying over half of the civilian infrastructure, killing at least 38,000 Palestinians and forcibly displacing 1.9 million Palestinians, more than once. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is considering whether this amounts to genocide, as it has ordered three times to Israel to comply with provisional measures aiming to prevent acts of genocide.
Regarding Ms. Abu al-Nour and Ms. Yaghi:
On 20 February 2024, Ms. Abu al-Nour was killed along with her two-year-old daughter, her parents, and four siblings in an Israeli air raid on her house in Rafah.
On 22 February 2024, Ms. Yaghi and 37 family members were killed in an Israeli air raid on a house to which they had relocated for safety in Deir el-Balah, 14 km south of Gaza City.
Regarding the PCHR:
In late December 2023 the PCHR’s headquarters on the 12th floor of a Gaza City building was badly damaged during a land offensive. In January and February 2024, air raids and ground attacks damaged its Khan Younis office, leaving the building standing but in need of demolition. Its Jabaliya branch office was hit in a land attack in late April 2024. The PCHR’s three offices are currently unusable.
The PCHR, among other Palestinian human rights organisations, has been the target of an online smear campaign by the Israeli group, NGO Monitor, which has falsely accused them of having terrorist links. The attacks amount to defamation and may endanger the safety of PCHR staff and of persons providing testimony to it.
Regarding Al-Haq and Addameer:
Both organisations have been the target of an online smear campaign by the Israeli group NGO Monitor, which has falsely accused them of having terrorist links. The attacks amount to defamation and may endanger the safety of Al-Haq and Addameer staff and of persons providing testimony to them.
Regarding the surveillance of PCHR, Al-Haq and Addameer:
On 8 November 2021 Front Line Defenders and Citizen Lab issued the results of an investigation revealing the infiltration of the mobile devices of Palestinian human rights defenders working with the three organisations. The infiltration was reportedly carried out using Pegasus spyware, sold by the Israel-based NSO Group. Al-Haq and Addameer were among six human rights organisations in the Occupied West Bank that the Israeli authorities designated as “terrorist organisations” on 19 October 2021 under Israel’s Counter-Terrorism law 5776/2016. It is not known if the three Palestinian human rights organisations continue to be monitored.
Recent investigative reports, published on 28 May 2024[1], suggest that Israeli intelligence surveillance of the PCHR, Addameer and Al-Haq, among other Palestinian human rights organisations, began nearly ten years ago in relation to information these organisations were submitting to the International Criminal Court. The surveillance was reportedly led by Israel’s Shin Bet agency and the information reportedly covered Israeli torture of Palestinian prisoners and detainees; Israel’s punitive house demolition of Palestinian homes; bombing campaigns against Gaza; and Israeli settlers’ conduct in the West Bank. The impact of the monitoring has been to restrain individuals from reporting on Israeli violations out of fear of repercussions if they were to be publicly identified, including in the context of the ongoing war on Gaza.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express serious concern at Israeli acts that may violate international humanitarian law and may gravely hinder the rights to freedom of association and expression. These acts include the indiscriminate shelling that led to the killing of the two Palestinian human rights defenders, among the tens of thousands of civilians who have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023, and the airstrikes and ground shelling that inflicted damage to offices of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza.
We are also concerned about the dangers of a smear campaigns and surveillance against human rights organisations. The use of Pegasus spyware to monitor human rights defenders and journalists was the subject of three communications sent by several Special Procedures mandate holders to the Israeli Government on 5 August 2021 (AL ISR 7/2021); on 27 December 2021 (AL ISR 11/2021) and on 21 June 2023 (AL ISR 5/2023). We did not receive a reply to any of these communications. Surveillance and the danger of smear campaigns may generate a profound chilling effect and prevent human rights defenders from exercising their rights to freedom of association and expression.
[1] https://www.972mag.com/icc-israel-surveillance-investigation
