The United Nations Human Rights Office brought charges against Israel following the recent military raid on a Palestinian clinic. “The operation appears to be part of a pattern: Israeli forces attack vital civilian infrastructure, especially hospitals,” UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said yesterday. “The impact on the civilian population is horrible,” she lamented.
Use at Nasser Clinic
Israeli soldiers entered the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip to rescue dead hostages, the military said. Several suspects were arrested. A military spokesman spoke of a “precise and limited operation”.
The army said there was credible intelligence that Hamas was holding hostages at the clinic. The information could not be initially verified.
UN reminds us of proportionality
In conflicts, medical facilities must always be protected, Shamdasani emphasized. Even if Israel argues that a clinic was used by the enemy, the Israeli military must still act cautiously and proportionately under international law, the spokeswoman emphasized.
Hamas is not a terrorist organization: criticism from Israel
Israeli politicians criticized statements made by UN emergency aid coordinator Martin Griffiths. Griffith said in an interview that Islamic Hamas was not a terrorist organization, but a political movement.
A Sky News journalist asked Griffiths whether Israel's plan to destroy Hamas and not give it any role in future Gaza negotiations was realistic. The UN representative responded: “I think it is very difficult. I've worked with many, many different terrorist and rebel groups. For us, Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a political movement.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz then wrote on X (Twitter) that Griffiths denied that Hamas was a terrorist organization. “How embarrassing!” Katz even described Hamas as a “Nazi organization.” Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan wrote: “The UN's support for Hamas is finally being exposed on live television.”
Griffiths refers to the UN Security Council
Hamas is not on the UN Security Council's list of groups designated as terrorist organizations, Griffiths said. “However, that does not make the October 7 terrorist attacks any less horrific and reprehensible.”