ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned Monday that US President Donald Trump’s new Gaza peace plan ignores the two years of atrocities in Israel and Palestine, urging governments to act immediately to protect civilians and ensure accountability.

“The two years since October 7, 2023, have brought a seemingly endless stream of atrocities against civilians for which there has been no letup or justice,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at HRW. “Governments should not wait for the adoption of Trump’s or any other plan to take action to prevent further harm to those most at risk.” 

Over the past two years, atrocities in Israel and Palestine have exacted a heavy toll on civilians, leaving thousands dead, injured, starving, displaced, or unlawfully held hostage, and leveling entire towns and neighborhoods, said the international human rights watchdog.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups killed several hundred civilians at festivals and in their homes across more than two dozen southern Israeli communities. Scores were taken hostage, many of whom remain captive, including some starving in tunnels. 

A July 2024 Human Rights Watch report found that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and unlawful imprisonment.

The monitor urged governments with influence over Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups to push for the immediate release of civilian hostages, “an ongoing war crime.”

In Gaza, Israeli forces have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of them civilians, including entire families, with daily casualties equivalent to a classroom of children. 

Military operations have left much of the territory in ruins, flattening neighborhoods, towns, and key infrastructure such as homes, schools, and hospitals. Human Rights Watch said Israeli authorities have caused famine, used starvation as a weapon of war, and forcibly displaced nearly the entire population multiple times.

Human Rights Watch accused Israel of “numerous violations of the laws of war amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity, including extermination, and acts of genocide, and the violation of binding orders by the International Court of Justice.”

It also called on all governments to act immediately to prevent further atrocities and uphold human rights. Authorities should press Israeli officials to lift sweeping restrictions on aid entering Gaza and urge Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups to release all civilian hostages. 

Governments should suspend military assistance and arms transfers to both Israel and Palestinian armed groups, impose targeted sanctions - including travel bans and asset freezes - on officials credibly implicated in serious violations, and suspend preferential trade agreements with Israel while banning trade with illegal settlements. They should also publicly support the International Criminal Court, condemn any efforts to intimidate its officials or interfere with its work, and commit to enforcing ICC warrants.

“Governments urgently need to take concrete action to protect Gaza’s over two million Palestinians and the Israeli hostages,” Shakir said.

Israeli authorities have killed over 60,000 Palestinians in the past two years according to the Palestinian health ministry.

On average, 100 people are killed every day in Gaza according to UNRWA Commissioner General Phillippe Lazzarini, with reports by the UN Comission of Inquiry (COI) and Amnesty International having found Israel guilty of acts of genocide against the Palestinian people.  

Israel’s defense ministry said Monday that 1,152 soldiers have been killed since October 7, two years ago. Nearly half were under 21 years old.