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Women Journalists Without Chains affirms that the persistence of grave violations in the Gaza Strip demonstrates that Israel’s conduct cannot be understood as a series of isolated military incidents.
Rather, it reflects a systematic policy aimed at dismantling the Palestinian people’s existence, memory, and dignity. Such conduct poses a direct challenge to the international legal order and places the credibility of international justice mechanisms under severe strain.
The organization expresses deep alarm at the continued commission of serious crimes by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, despite the passage of more than fifty days since the implementation of the ceasefire agreement announced under the framework promoted by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has recorded an additional 972 fatalities on its list of martyrs. Of these, 356 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks during the ceasefire period itself, while 616 bodies were recovered by medical teams from beneath the rubble and from streets across the Gaza Strip up to December 1. These figures confirm that lethal military operations have continued unabated, underscoring the absence of any genuine commitment to protecting civilians or respecting humanitarian guarantees.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, the total death toll has risen to 70,112 Palestinians admitted to hospitals between the start of the war in October 2023 and December 1, 2025. An undetermined number of victims remain trapped beneath the rubble, unreachable due to the destruction of infrastructure and the lack of heavy rescue equipment.
Over the course of nearly two years, Israeli forces dropped an estimated 150,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, destroying or damaging approximately 90 percent of the Strip’s infrastructure and more than 440,000 housing units. These attacks resulted in the forced displacement of over two million Palestinians and left more than 55 million tons of rubble filling streets and residential neighborhoods, rendering large parts of Gaza uninhabitable.
Women Journalists Without Chains notes that Israel has continued its assaults on Gaza despite the ceasefire, compounding the devastation of a war that has now lasted more than 733 days. The organization points out that the Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court—has exploited the ceasefire framework to consolidate territorial control and sustain systematic destruction.
More than 52 percent of the Gaza Strip remains under direct Israeli control. Through the imposition of the so-called “Yellow Line” and “Red Line,” Israeli forces have prohibited Palestinian access to vast areas, demolished residential neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure, and continuously expanded restricted zones at the expense of areas where civilians are permitted to live. These practices deliberately undermine civilian life and entrench mass displacement.
Targeting Journalists and Silencing Witnesses
Women Journalists Without Chains strongly condemns the Israeli drone strike that killed photojournalist Mahmoud Essam and wounded journalist Mohammed Islih with shrapnel in central Khan Younis on Tuesday, December 2. This was not an isolated incident.
Since the ceasefire came into force on October 29, Israeli forces have carried out multiple airstrikes targeting journalists, including an attack on a tent sheltering displaced journalist Mohammed al-Munirawi and his wife in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing both instantly.
Since October 7, 2023, at least 256 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces, in addition to journalist Saleh al-Jafrawi, who was killed by armed groups affiliated with the occupation shortly after the ceasefire took effect.
The continued killing of journalists during both armed conflict and declared ceasefires constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which grants journalists special protection as civilians. These acts reflect a deliberate policy to silence witnesses, suppress documentation, and obstruct the dissemination of truth—amounting to a compound war crime within the broader context of genocidal acts.
The Identity and Treatment of Palestinian Bodies
Since the ceasefire began, Israeli occupation authorities have handed over 345 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, only 99 of these bodies have been fully identified. The identities of the remaining victims remain unknown due to severe decomposition and extensive disfigurement.
Reports reviewed by the organization indicate that many bodies bear signs consistent with field executions, torture, crushing by military vehicles, and other forms of extreme violence. Medical evidence also raises serious concerns regarding the possible removal of organs from some previously returned bodies.
These practices constitute grave violations of human dignity and the rights of families to truth and accountability, and amount to serious breaches of international humanitarian law.
Women Journalists Without Chains reiterates that deaths occurring within Israeli detention centers, as well as the documented treatment of detainees and the handling of bodies, are part of a broader policy of genocide. These acts violate the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, particularly Articles 27, 32, and 33, which prohibit torture, cruel treatment, collective punishment, and assaults on human dignity.
The cumulative evidence—mass killings, starvation, destruction of infrastructure, targeting of journalists, enforced disappearances, and denial of humanitarian access—demonstrates a consistent and systematic pattern of crimes against humanity.
The Organization’s Demands
In light of the above, Women Journalists Without Chains reiterates the following demands:
· The launch of an urgent, independent, international investigation into all crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces, including the killing of journalists and detainees.
· Immediate compliance with the ceasefire agreement and a complete halt to attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
· Unrestricted and immediate access to the Gaza Strip for international fact-finding missions, humanitarian organizations, and independent media outlets.
· Accountability for all individuals and authorities responsible for crimes committed before and after the ceasefire.
· Full protection for journalists, enabling them to carry out their work safely and freely as civilians entitled to special protection under international law.
Women Journalists Without Chains warns that continued international inaction risks entrenching impunity and normalizing mass atrocity. Silence in the face of systematic destruction is not neutrality—it is complicity.
