Israel must end its suffocating blockade of the Gaza Strip, which leaves more than 1.4 million Palestinians cut off from the outside world and struggling with desperate poverty, Amnesty International said one year on from the end of Israel's military offensive in Gaza. Amnesty International's briefing paper Suffocating: The Gaza Strip under Israeli blockade gathers testimony from people still struggling to rebuild their lives following Operation "Cast Lead", which killed around 1,400 Palestinians and injured thousands more. 

27 December 2009, marks the first anniversary of Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. The unlawful blockade imposed by Israel continues, and is in its Fourth year , producing further deterioration of the entire civilian population situation since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against the territory on 27 December 2008, and maintained its military attack for 22 days. 

On 3 April 2009, the President of the Human Rights Council established the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict with the mandate "to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after;" herein lie the Mission's findings. 

This report provides the AIC's analysis of the Annapolis process 18 months after it took place. Through our analyses we can affirm that in spite of the peace conferences, the Roadmap, and speeches, the Israeli Government has not fulfilled its commitments and the settlement project continues to rapidly increase, presenting one of the major obstacles to peace. The settlement issue is the reason for the big question mark on the future direction of the peace process. 

New data on Arabs incarcerated in Israeli prisons, including breakdowns by nationality, region, and security classification. 

Sheikh Jarrah is a Palestinian residential neighbourhood located to the north of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem. The area, which is home to approximately 2,700 Palestinians, includes well-known landmarks, such as the Orient House, the American Colony Hotel and the Palestinian National Theatre, as well as many consular missions. Given the area's strategic location, Israeli settler organizations have made persistent efforts to take control of land and property and establish a sustained presence. 

This report documents the humanitarian impact of the blockade imposed by Israel since June 2007 on the 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip. It focuses on the effects of the import and export restrictions and the travel ban to and from Gaza on livelihoods, food security, education, health, shelter, energy and water and sanitation. The report also describes how the recurrent cycles of violence and human rights violations have compounded the suffering of the population in Gaza. 

Significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations of international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations occurred during the military operations of 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, which were compounded by the blockade that the population of Gaza endured in the months prior to Operation Cast Lead and which continues. 

The use of Palestinian children as human shields and informers by the Israeli army violates Article 2 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000) (OPAC). Therefore, this report will focus on the consideration of Israel's compliance with OPAC Article 2 and the compulsory - albeit temporary and unofficial - recruitment of Palestinians under 18 in State armed forces. 

No health care system can function without adequate medical equipment. Yet in Gaza doctors and nurses do not have the medical equipment they need to respond to the health needs of the 1.5 million people living in the Strip. Medical devices are often broken, missing spare parts, or out of date. Two main factors are responsible for this: the Israeli blockade with its restrictions on the movement of goods and people, and the poor internal organization of maintenance services. 

This report describes how Israel's closure policies brought critical humanitarian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip to a state of collapse in a gradual process that can be divided into three stages: the weakening of infrastructure prior to the military operation; its bombing during the incursion; and the hindrance of efforts to properly repair it since then. 

This report documents seven incidents where Israeli soldiers fired on civilians with small arms during Israel's major military operations in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. These attacks killed 11 civilians - including five women and four children - and wounded at least another eight. In each case, the victims were standing, walking, or in a slowly moving vehicle with other unarmed civilians who were trying to convey their non-combatant status by waving a white flag. 

This report presents the results of a needs assessment in the Palestinian gatherings of Lebanon funded by European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department and conducted by the Norwegian Refugee Council and Premiere Urgence. The objective of the assessment was to identify the urgent housing, water and sanitation needs in the Palestinian gatherings of Lebanon. PU and NRC also took the opportunity to have a more accurate understanding of the demographics of the gatherings. 

Al-Haq notes Israel's continued disregard of its obligations under the Covenant towards the Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and its subsequent failure to report on these obligations in its Third Period Report to the HRC. This report highlights the lack of implementation by Israel of certain obligations set forth in the Covenant during the reporting period in relation to the occupied Palestinian population. 

This report documents attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since November 2008 that killed three Israeli civilians and seriously injured dozens of others, damaged property and forced residents to leave their homes. The rockets unlawfully struck populated areas up to 40 kilometers inside Israel, placing roughly 800,000 Israeli civilians at risk. Rockets that fell short of their intended targets in Israel killed two girls and wounded others in Gaza during this period. 

Because of the extensive humanitarian impact of the Barrier, OCHA (together with UNRWA) has been monitoring and reporting on affected Palestinian communities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 2003. The current report summarises the main findings of this research, while documenting the latest developments since the last Barrier update, issued on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the ICJ opinion in July 2008. 

This report presents documented statistical material on the damage inflicted on civilians and their property by the IOF during Operation Cast Lead. Information in the report is based on an extensive field survey in which interviews with victims and eyewitnesses were conducted and supporting evidence such as medical reports examined. 

The Knesset Economic Committee recently considered the issue of the Israel Land Administration reform, and approved a draft law on the subject. The draft law, inter alia, institutes a regime of land privatization, permits exchanges of land between the State and the Jewish National Fund and grants decisive weight to representatives of the JNF in the new Land Authority Council. The draft law is extremely prejudicial to the basic and constitutional rights of the Arab citizens of Israel. 

Operation Cast Lead had devastating consequences for the education system already weakened as a result of the blockade. During the military offensive, at least 280 schools and kindergartens were damaged/severely damaged, including 18 schools were destroyed (8 government, 2 private and 8 Kindergartens). Six of the destroyed government schools are in North Gaza alone, affecting almost 9,000 students who had to relocate to other schools. 

An analysis of the 2009-2010 State Budget proposal and what has been allotted to the Arab citizens in Israel has revealed that although this group comprises 19% of the total population they will receive less than 5% of the governmental development funds and less than 6% of the salary budget allotted to government employees. A breakdown of the budgets of most ministries shows that the percentages of funds allotted to Arabs are consistently and proportionately lower than the population.