Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)), said today that the Israeli measures in Masafer Yatta in the south of the occupied West Bank that include forcible transfer may amount to war crimes. Speaking at a press conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on the humanitarian crisis in Palestine and more specifically the effect on health resulting from the Israeli measures and the forced transfer of the residents of Masafer Yatta, Enass Abu-Khalaf, head of communications at MSF for the MENA region, said the extraordinary pressure applied by the Israeli occupation authorities to transfer the Masafer Yatta communities leave an impact on people’s physical and mental health. “Palestinians living in Masafer Yatta and its vicinity face great challenges, such as living in constant fear of displacement, the demolition of their homes, deprivation of water, restriction of their movements, and facing settler violence,” she said. David Cantero Pérez, MSF head of mission for the Palestinian Territories, called on the international community to assume its legal responsibility for what the residents of Masafer Yatta are exposed to. “About 1,100 residents of Masafer Yatta live in danger of forced displacement, which constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law that Israel must respect, and constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus becomes a war crime,” he said. “The residents of Masafer Yatta are subjected to all forms of violence. Soldiers enter villages at night, enforce curfews and other movement restrictions, conduct military training near living areas, confiscate vehicles, and demolish homes. They make life unbearable for residents,’ said Perez, stressing that as a humanitarian medical organization, ‘we condemn Israeli policies and call on the Israeli authorities to immediately halt the eviction plan and stop implementing measures that restrict access to basic services, including medical care, for the Palestinians in Masafer Yatta.’ He said, ‘The international community must take urgent and necessary measures to protect people living in Masafer Yatta and ensure that their human rights are upheld.’ Mariam Qabas, MSF health promotion supervisor, said the conference came to shed light on what is happening to the communities in Masafer Yatta and to share part of the doctors’ experiences through living the life and suffering of the residents, who are not getting any media coverage. She said the residents in Masafer Yatta are subjected to psychological pressures and great daily suffering as a result of the Israeli measures and attempts to forcibly transfer them from their homes and lands. During the conference, a documentary film entitled: Masafer Yatta, the Forcible Transfer, was shown, which included testimonies from villagers who suffer from house demolitions and daily pressures. In a new report titled ‘The unbearable life: the health impacts of Israeli measures to forcibly evict the residents of Masafer Yatta,’ published in March, MSF sheds light on the extraordinary pressure applied by Israeli authorities to push the communities in Masafer Yatta to leave the area and the impact of this on people’s physical and mental health.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA