2022 Humanitarian Response Plan for Gaza and West Bank

Population Registry is one of series of bureaucratic hurdles by Israel controlling who is "legally resident" there and who may receive official Palestinian identification cards as well as Palestinian passports issued by the Government of the State of Palestine since 1995. While occasional IDs are granted the application process is unreliable and based on ad hoc goodwill gestures by Israel towards the PA. 34 As a political gesture, up to June, Israel earlier this year added a few hundred people to the census who have or will receive IDs. 35 Further, even without citizenship status, Palestinians should not be arbitrarily restricted freedom of movement within the oPt.36 Arbitrary arrests, detention, and ill-treatment Concerns about arbitrary arrests, detention and ill-treatment by Israeli authorities persist including those noted above of fishermen in the ARA who are arrested, transferred to Israel and interrogated before release without conviction, and Palestinian workers with Israeli issued work permits detained while crossing Erez. Also of concern are the suspected arbitrary arrests, detention, and ill- treatment, possibly amounting to torture, of Palestinians by the Gaza de facto authorities, who are held sometimes for extended periods of time without charge or conviction or based on vague charges such as 'undermining national security' and often prevented from family visits and legal access. Recent findings of the UN Committee Against Torture stated receiving consistent reports that people in custody in facilities run by security forces and intelligence services in the Gaza Strip are tortured and ill-treated. These measures are often enforced against people perceived to 34 Following the start of the second Intifada in September 2000, Israel completely froze approval of family unification applications and the issuance of visitor permits, both of which enable Palestinians to be in the registry, and receive IDs. Since then, the only family unifications approved were done so pursuant to "political gestures" on the part of the Israeli government and are approved are granted not as a matter of legal right, but as a "special benevolent act". The exact number of Palestinians without valid identity documentation is unknown. In the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of the Interior issued about 12,500 "temporary" Palestinian identity cards to individuals who are resident in Gaza but not included in the Population Registry. The affected population in Gaza, however, is likely to be be affiliated with political opposition factions, journalists, local activists and human rights defenders, thus violating their right to freedom of expression, assembly and participation. OHCHR monitoring points to widespread allegations of ill-treatment, possibly amounting to torture, in Gaza detention facilities. 37 For example, in June this year, a man with diabetes, arrested for drug trafficking in November 2021, died while in custody without charge. 38 As with these cases, little information is made public about steps taken by the Gaza de facto authorities to investigate these cases. Recent findings of the UN Committee Against Torture received consistent reports that people in custody violate international human rights norms and standards that the Gaza de facto authorities, as authorities exercising government-like functions in the Gaza Strip, are obliged to respect. Israel's pattern of imposing prolonged detention of Palestinians without compelling evidence to elicit admissions of guilt continues. An emblematic case is the conviction of former World Vision Gaza director Mohammed Al Halabi after more than six years of detention, notwithstanding serious concerns about the lack of credible evidence against him. The trial against Al Halabi is marred by serious violations of Israel's obligation to respect his right to a fair trial and due process. These include restricted communication with his lawyer, inadequate time and obstacles to prepare his defense, use of secret evidence of which neither he nor his lawyer had access to, limited access to evidence and extensive closed door hearings, attempts at extraction of confessions through ill-treatment and torture and the failure to try him without undue delay. A deprivation of liberty is associated to such grave violations of due process and fair trial rights could be considered much higher. For the source: check Undocumented and Stateless: https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/undocumented-and-stateless.pdf 35 A further 3000 names were approved in July 2022 36 Article 12 ICCPR 37 A/HRC/46/63, paras. 62-63 38 According to ICHR, on 11 June, 44-year-old Rafah man died allegedly of a heart attack while detained and without charge after being arrested by the civil police on 1 November 2021 for drugs trafficking. When his health deteriorated, the man, suffering diabetes, was transferred to Al Shifa hospital in early June. 9

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