A/HRC/10/22 page 9 C. The continued application of human rights law during armed conflict 24. Human rights law, which consists of the full range of economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights, does not cease to apply in times of war; only certain derogations which are in accordance with precise provisions relating to times of emergency are permissible.13 25. More specifically, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights instruments allow for the possibility, in circumstances that threaten the life of the nation, to derogate from some of its guarantees provided that the measures are strictly necessary and are lifted as soon as the public emergency or armed conflict ceases to exist.14 Certain guarantees, in particular the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or the right to life, are non-derogable.15 Israel remains in the state of public emergency proclaimed on 19 May 1948, four days after its declaration of establishment.16 With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights does not explicitly allow for derogations in time of public emergency, but the guarantees of the Covenant may, in times of armed conflict, be limited in accordance with its articles 4 and 5 and because of the possible scarcity of available resources in the sense of article 2, paragraph 1.17 III. CONTRIBUTIONS BY INDIVIDUAL MANDATE-HOLDERS A. Independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty 26. In situations of armed conflict, the poor always suffer disproportionately. In the specific case of Gaza, the recent conflict and, in particular, the impact that Israeli military operations 13 International Court of Justice, “Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons”, advisory opinion of 8 July 1996, ICJ Reports 1996 (I), para. 25; advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, para. 106; “Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda)”, ICJ Reports 2005, para. 219 (finding substantive violations of human rights law during an armed conflict). See also concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee on the second periodic report of Israel in Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/58/40), vol. I, para. 11. 14 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 4, para. 1. See also Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 29 (2001), para. 3. 15 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 4, para. 2. 16 CCPR/C/ISR/2001/2, para. 71. 17 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000), paras. 28-29.