Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

HUNDREDS KILLED AS ISRAEL RESUMES ATTACKS ACROSS GAZA, BREAKING CEASEFIRE

On 18 March Israel resumed large-scale airstrikes across Gaza. Israel’s surprise attack, following consultation with the United States, has already killed over 400 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Residential buildings, schools and internal displacement camps have reportedly been hit. Several so-called evacuation orders were issued, including in Khan Younis and Beit Hanoun, forcing already displaced families to flee in desperation. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stressed, “Israel’s resort to yet more military force will only heap further misery upon a Palestinian population already suffering catastrophic conditions.”

While the ceasefire offered much-needed respite to Palestinians following fifteen months of unrelenting death and destruction across Gaza, Israel continued to bomb and attack the enclave, killing at least 100 Palestinians and obstructing the delivery of humanitarian supplies since the agreement took effect on 19 January. Israel’s latest actions have effectively shattered the ceasefire, coming more than two weeks after authorities reinstated a siege of Gaza and then subsequently cut off the electricity supply to the enclave in an effort to force unilateral changes to the agreement. After failing to proceed to the second round of negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the latest assault on Gaza was a result of Hamas’ refusal to release hostages and accept new terms of the agreement, while also affirming that “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.”

As Israel escalates attacks across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), evidence of atrocities continues to mount. In a report released on 13 March, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) in the OPT, including East Jerusalem and Israel, determined that Israel has committed genocidal acts in Gaza since 7 October 2023 through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive health facilities. The CoI concluded that Israeli authorities have deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians and imposed measures intended to prevent birth. Since October 2023 over half a million women and girls of reproductive age in Gaza were impacted by direct attacks on healthcare facilities offering sexual and reproductive services, while the rate of miscarriages increased 300 percent.

The CoI also documented Israel’s use of sexual and gender-based violence as a tool of subordination, including the rape of male detainees. Navi Pillay, Chair of the CoI, said, “There is no escape from the conclusion that Israel has employed sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians to terrorise them and perpetuate a system of oppression that undermines their right to self-determination.”

Israel must immediately halt its assault on Gaza, lift the siege, restore electricity and abide by the terms of the ceasefire agreement. All states, including those with influence, must apply economic, diplomatic and legal pressure on Israel to cease its attacks and to help reinstate a ceasefire. States must refrain from being complicit in Israel’s conduct by halting all arms transfers to Israel.

SCORES OF FULANI CIVILIANS ALLEGEDLY KILLED IN LATEST TARGETED ATTACK IN BURKINA FASO

From 10 and 11 March soldiers and members of the Burkina Faso government-sponsored Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) reportedly conducted operations in Solenzo, Banwa province, torturing and killing dozens of civilians. Analysis by Human Rights Watch of videos taken during the operations indicates that an estimated 58 people appear to be dead or dying, the majority of whom are ethnic Fulani. This suggests that the operations were retaliatory attacks against the Fulani, an ethnic minority community that security forces and militias regularly target, and whom the government has long accused of supporting armed Islamist groups. The videos show armed men, including members of the VDP and two local militia groups, standing by or walking among the bodies, instructing and, in some cases, insulting those being detained. The footage revealed bloodied bodies – many of whom were women, children and the elderly – some with their hands and feet bound. According to local sources, the attack followed an earlier assault by Islamist fighters at the beginning of March.

Burkina Faso has been ruled by the military since a coup in 2022. Although the junta promised to end the Islamist insurgency which has plagued the country for nearly a decade, violence has escalated and spread, and civilian protection has further deteriorated under their rule. Armed Islamist groups, as well as Burkinabè forces and pro-government militias, have committed atrocities with impunity, fueling cycles of abuse and retaliation. In 2024 alone over 2,100 civilians were unlawfully killed, many in a series of mass casualty incidents.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) have also frequently attacked civilians in Solenzo. In October 2024 the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data documented that JNIM killed over 50 civilians in a village near Solenzo, allegedly in retaliation against residents accused of joining the VDPs. In response to the increasing attacks, Burkinabè security forces and VDPs have conducted operations in Banwa province. On 2 January President Ibrahim Traoré appointed a new commander for the Rapid Intervention Battalion 18 (BIR), a special force involved in counterinsurgency operations based in Solenzo. BIR soldiers have previously been implicated in grave violations against civilians, including unlawful killings.

Christine Caldera, Central Sahel expert at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “The Burkinabè security forces and VDPs must carry out all operations in strict compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law, ensuring that counterterrorism objectives do not negate universal human rights protections and take steps to impartially protect civilians. They must cease ethnically motivated tactics to avoid escalating grievances and hate between ethnic communities, as well as fueling further cycles of retaliatory violence.” The authorities should ensure that the VDP are properly trained, regulated and held accountable if members commit abuses.

SUDAN’S ARMED FORCES PUSH FOR LEGITIMACY AMID ONGOING VIOLATIONS AND ATROCITIES

A report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, released on 6 March, details widespread patterns of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Sudan’s Khartoum State by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Since April 2023 tens of thousands of people, including women and children, have been held without formal charges in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, often cut off from any contact with their families. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk emphasized, “No individual should be deprived of their liberty without due process, nor – under any circumstances – subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Former detainees have provided credible accounts of severe torture, frequent beatings and inhumane conditions in both RSF and SAF facilities. Overcrowding, poor ventilation and lack of food, water and medical care have led to numerous deaths in custody. Ethnic discrimination has been a defining feature of the detention practices, with non-Arab detainees facing heightened abuse in RSF facilities. Additionally, individuals from Darfur and Kordofan have been targeted in SAF facilities based on their ethnicity or presumed RSF affiliation. Reports of sexual violence against women detainees have also surfaced in RSF-controlled facilities.

Meanwhile, as the SAF have regained control over parts of Sennar, Al Jazeera, Khartoum and North Kordofan, they have increasingly sought to present themselves as the legitimate authorities to the international community. On 23 January Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the UN submitted a national plan for protecting civilians during wartime and the peacebuilding phase to the UN Security Council. In February the SAF called for international support for their proposed roadmap to achieve peace and complete the political transition. However, these initiatives appear more as diplomatic tactics – aimed at bolstering their image while diverting attention from ongoing violations – rather than genuine efforts to protect civilians. Efforts to consolidate control over strategic areas have been marked by large-scale human rights and International Humanitarian Law violations, many of which may amount to war crimes and/or crimes against humanity, raising serious doubts about the SAF’s willingness or ability to fulfill their commitments.

Given the history of failed commitments and ongoing violations, the international community’s response to the SAF must be cautious and conditional. While supporting peace efforts is important, any engagement should be linked to strict benchmarks focused on accountability and verifiable progress in civilian protection. The SAF should not be allowed to use diplomatic maneuvers to distract from their actions on the ground. The international community must prioritize civilian protection and human rights monitoring, while also pressuring all parties to the conflict to ensure a peace process that is inclusive and results in tangible change, rather than simply serving as a platform for reasserting control.