This type of decision generally sets a precedent for all similar cases.
The National Court of Asylum (CNDA) announced on Friday that it considered that the Gaza Strip was experiencing “a situation of indiscriminate violence of exceptional intensity”, opening the way to protection for Palestinians from this region.
By a decision of February 12, the CNDA granted asylum to a national from Khan Younès, considering that he would run, in the event of return there, and "by the sole fact of his presence as a civilian", a “real risk of suffering a serious threat against his life or person”, indicated the Court in a press release.
Also read “Living conditions are catastrophic”: a refugee in southern Gaza recounts his daily life
The CNDA sees this as “the consequence of a situation of violence, resulting from the armed conflict between the Hamas forces and the Israeli armed forces likely to extend indiscriminately to civilians as well as the humanitarian situation”.
This type of decision by the CNDA, which rules on appeal on asylum requests, generally sets a precedent for all similar cases in France.
“Dramatic humanitarian situation”
The man born in 1991 was unable to obtain refugee status from Ofpra (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons), not being registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Office for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA), notes the Court.
The CNDA, however, granted him another protection under asylum, subsidiary protection, provided for by European law.
Also read: In Rennes, a Palestinian family threatened with being expelled... despite the war in Gaza
The Court explains that it based its decision on several publications from the UN and the WHO in particular, which “highlight the security incidents, the number of victims and internally displaced people as well as the dramatic humanitarian situation generated since October 7 2023 by the fighting between the Hamas forces, which held control of the Palestinian territory of Gaza, and the Israeli armed forces.
In the past this notion of “indiscriminate violence of exceptional intensity” was put forward by the CNDA to grant protection to people from South Darfur in Sudan, the Kabul region in Afghanistan and conflict zones in Ukraine.
155 requests from Palestinians in 2022
In 2022, Ofpra examined 155 asylum applications filed by Palestinians.
Of the files examined by the CNDA and Ofpra, 118 had obtained protection, according to the body's annual report.
The war was sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally taken from official Israeli data.
Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip in retaliation which left 28,775 dead, the vast majority civilians, according to the latest report on Friday from the Hamas Ministry of Health.