Human Rights Watch says researchers are being blocked from entering Gaza
Human Rights Watch said Monday that Israel is not letting its researchers into the Gaza Strip to document cases of abuse by authorities.
Since 2008, Israel has "systematically" kept researchers out of Gaza, with the exception of one permit being granted last year, Human Rights Watch said in a 47-page report. The organization said Egypt has also prevented its employees from entering Gaza from Egyptian territory since 2012. The militant group Hamas took control of Gaza, home to almost 2 million people, in 2007, and both Hamas and Israel have been accused of war crimes during fighting over the last decade.
Israel for years has said Human Rights Watch is biased against the country, and Tel Aviv has declared that there is no reason to have researchers in Gaza because Israel is doing its own investigations into possible abuse. "If Israel wants the ICC prosecutors to take seriously its argument that its criminal investigations are adequate, a good first step would be to allow human rights researchers to bring relevant information to light," Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press. Israel wasn't the only party called out in the group's report — it also criticized Hamas for not working with investigators and failing to protect local human rights workers, and Egypt for not letting researchers through to Gaza.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Diamonds could be a brilliant climate solution
Under the radar A girl and the climate's best friend
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: November 12, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: November 12, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular stories
Speed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
Speed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Detailed map of fly's brain holds clues to human mind
Speed Read This remarkable fruit fly brain analysis will aid in future human brain research
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipse
Speed Read While they can't see the event, they can hear it with a device that translates the sky's brightness into music
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
An amphibian that produces milk?
speed read Caecilians, worm-like amphibians that live underground, produce a milk-like substance for their hatchlings
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Jupiter's Europa has less oxygen than hoped
speed read Scientists say this makes it less likely that Jupiter's moon harbors life
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Why February 29 is a leap day
Speed Read It all started with Julius Caesar
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published