Without definitive results, key evidence, or access to the Al Ahli Hospital site, Human Rights Watch’s decision to publish an inconclusive report while Israel continues its genocidal war including the targeting of hospitals must be questioned.

Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, along with a coalition of other leading Palestinian civil society organizations, has released a new landmark report on Israeli apartheid, titled ‘Israeli Apartheid: Tool of Zionist Settler Colonialism’.

The new report explores apartheid as a “structural element of furthering Zionist settler colonialism” – a framework previously overlooked by international and Israeli human rights organizations in their own reports on Israeli apartheid. 

Israel arrested Jenin Freedom Theatre chairman Bilal Al-Saadi last month and sentenced him to six months detention on undisclosed charges as part of a crackdown on Palestinians’ artistic freedom. PEN America and an international group of theater community members have condemned the arrest. They are demanding Al-Saadi’s release.

Days after the Israeli army raided and shuttered seven Palestinian civil society organizations, Israel is escalating its attacks on the groups, with Israeli intelligence officials reportedly threatening two of groups’ directors with arrest after calling them in for interrogation.

In a blatant attempt at intimidation, Israel is claiming that providing legal representation to Palestinian civil society organizations violates anti-terrorism laws.

Nine European Union states announced their support for the Palestinian civil society organizations that were arbitrarily deemed “terrorist institutions” by the Israeli government last year. The EU states rejected the Israeli designation, citing lack of proof.

It’s been more than five months since Israel designated six Palestinian civil society organizations as terrorist groups, and the groups are demanding that action be taken to reverse the decision. In a joint statement the groups called on third party states, including the US, EU, and intergovernmental organizations to “take concrete action against the Israeli occupation authorities’ continued harassment and criminalization of Palestinian human rights defenders and civil society organizations by calling for full revocation of the designation.”

Addameer is one of six Palestinian NGOs designated by Israel as a terror organization. The prisoners rights group says the accusations against them are unfounded, and could have potentially devastating consequences for the Palestinian human rights movement.