Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians seek refuge at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 8. Doaa Rouqa/Portal
The United Nations human rights chief has called on Israel to allow his team access to Gaza to investigate competing claims about Al-Shifa hospital.
“We need to investigate this by having access. “We cannot rely on one party or the other in this matter,” Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told CNN’s Becky Anderson when asked about the Israeli military’s allegations that Hamas was storing weapons in the country hospital.
He said the situation needed an “independent international investigation because we have different narratives.”
Pressure on Israel: Israel is under growing international pressure to uncover evidence of what it describes as a Hamas command and control center beneath Al-Shifa Hospital, as Israeli forces launched a raid on the facility early Wednesday. The Hamas-run government media office denied using the hospital as a command and control center and called the Israeli claims “baseless lies.”
Turk said hospitals have special protection under humanitarian law at all times.
“You cannot use civilians, especially hospitals, for military purposes. “But you can’t attack a hospital if there is no clear evidence,” said Türk.
Request for access to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank: Türk said investigators cannot travel to Gaza “while the bombs are falling or military operations are taking place,” and so his team is monitoring the situation from a distance for now. He said he had previously asked the Israeli government for access to Gaza and the U.S. occupied the West Bank, but was “still waiting for the answer.”
The actions of both Israel and Hamas since the militant group’s massacre of an estimated 1,200 people on October 7 must be investigated, Turk said.
International humanitarian law in conflict: Since Hamas launched its brazen attacks on October 7 and Israel responded with intensive air strikes and a ground offensive, both sides have been accused of war crimes.
“We have seen… serious violations of international humanitarian law,” Turk said, detailing the actions of both sides.
“What Hamas has done – the horrific killing of civilians, the fact that it has taken hostages – are clear violations of the law. The fact that we have seen a collective punishment of Gaza by Israel by cutting off supplies of medical supplies, food, electricity and water is also so [a] “It is a very serious matter in terms of international humanitarian law,” said Türk.
“In fact, we consider it a crime [just] because Hamas acted criminally by taking hostages and killing civilians. So there are actually issues that we all need to deal with because they are very serious. And they need answers. And they require accountability,” Turk said.