“The terrible events” that have occurred in Gaza in the last 48 hours are “incomprehensible,” said on Sunday the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who believes that certain actions by the Israeli army could constitute “war crimes”. .
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“The killing of so many people in schools-turned-shelters, hundreds of people fleeing for their lives, while thousands more are displaced in southern Gaza are actions that violate the basic protections of the law.”
“Internationally, assistance must be provided to civilians,” he warned in a statement.
These statements come at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) is trying to evacuate the last patients from Al-Chifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, which it says has become a “death zone.”
According to the Israeli army, which entered the hospital complex on Wednesday, it houses a Hamas hideout, installed in particular in a network of tunnels. The Islamist movement that took power in Gaza in 2007 denies this.
Hamas also claimed on Saturday that Israeli attacks on the United Nations-run Jabaliya refugee camp in the territory’s north had killed more than 80 people, including at least 50 at a school housing displaced people.
Mr Türk also described as “horrifying” the images presented after an Israeli attack on the United Nations-run al-Fakhoura school in Jabaliya camp, which “clearly show large numbers of seriously injured or injured women, children and men.” . killed.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that in Khan Younes, southern Gaza, the Israeli army “dropped leaflets urging residents to go to approved shelters, despite strikes taking place across the Gaza Strip.”
“Despite the warnings, Israel is obliged to protect civilians wherever they are,” he said, recalling in particular the principle of proportionality in matters of international law.
“Failure to comply with these rules may constitute a war crime,” Turk said.
AFP
According to Mr Türk, at least three other schools housing displaced people have been attacked in the last 48 hours.
“The pain, terror and fear on the faces of children, women and men is too much to bear,” he said.
“How much more violence, bloodshed and misery will it take for people to come to their senses? “How many more civilians will be killed?” he continued.
“Humanity must come first,” Mr. Turk said, stressing the absolute need for a ceasefire “now.”
The conflict was triggered by the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7th, on a scale unprecedented in Israeli history.
According to authorities, 1,200 people were killed, the vast majority civilians.
AFP
In retaliation, Israel vowed to “annihilate” the movement by having its army relentlessly shell the small Palestinian territory and also launch a ground operation there on October 27.
According to the Hamas government, 12,300 people have been killed in Israeli bombings since October 7, including more than 5,000 children.