CAIRO, Wednesday, November 8, 2023 (WAFA) - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reiterated the call for an urgent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during a visit to the Rafah crossing with Egypt and El Arish Hospital in Egypt today.
Volker Türk described the Rafah border crossing with Egypt as a “lifeline” for the 2.3 million residents of Gaza over the past month, although “unjustly, outrageously thin.”
But it is also “the gates to a living nightmare”, he continued, as people in Gaza have been suffocating, under persistent Israeli bombardment, mourning their families, struggling for water, food, electricity and fuel.
“In Rafah, I was at the gates to what is a living nightmare in Gaza. I feel, at my core, the pain and immense suffering of every person whose loved one has been killed. We must all feel this shared pain and end this nightmare.”
“A nightmare, where people have been suffocating, under persistent [Israeli] bombardment, mourning their families, struggling for water, for food, for electricity and fuel. My colleagues are among those trapped, and among those who have lost family members, suffering sleepless nights filled with agony, anguish and despair.”
Gaza has already been described as the world’s biggest open-air prison before 7 October, under a 56-year occupation and a 16-year blockade by Israel, he said.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that the “collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians is also a war crime, as is unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians.”
Warning that “we have fallen off a precipice,” he stated that even in the context of a 56-year Israeli occupation, the situation is the most dangerous we have faced for people in Gaza and the West Bank.
“During my visit here, I heard a lot of concerns about double standards in the midst of this conflict. Let me be clear - the world cannot afford double standards. We must instead insist upon the universal standards against which we must assess this situation - international human rights laws and international humanitarian laws.”
And those standards are clear: parties to the conflict have the obligation to take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian objects, which remains applicable throughout the attacks. The actions of one party do not absolve the other party of its obligations under international humanitarian law. Attacks against medical facilities, medical personnel and the wounded and sick are prohibited, he added.
He stressed that aid needs to be delivered to all those in need. “Egypt’s role has been key in many respects and has been indispensable in getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza and for injured people to leave Gaza. But the aid getting through is a trickle, and with severely limited geographical reach. Israel’s own obligations as an occupying power also continue to apply in full, requiring it to ensure a maximum of basic necessities of life can reach all who need it.”
People remain deeply vulnerable in all parts of Gaza. There is an urgent humanitarian imperative to reach the population increasingly isolated, including in the North and Middle Areas of Gaza, cut off from the very limited aid that is entering Gaza. Just in the last few days, my colleagues have been receiving reports about an orphanage in the northern governorate that has 300 children in need of urgent help. With communications down and access roads impassable and unsafe, we cannot get to them, he stressed.
He said that in the last month, Israel has completely cut off communication in Gaza at least three times, cutting Palestinians in Gaza from their families inside the strip as well as the outside world. “Blackouts have serious consequences on rescue workers struggling to find and rescue the victims of strikes, families trying to find out the status of their loved ones and to access emergency medical care, and for the situation on the ground to be monitored and documented.”
He said that journalists trying to document and report on the situation in Gaza have been paying the price with their lives. At least 32 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in the last month.
The UN Human Rights Chief cited the cases of two civilians injured in the Israeli strikes, stating that: “Today at El Arish hospital in North Sinai, I met Ikram. Ikram was eight months pregnant when her abdomen was hit by shrapnel. She lost her baby and had to undergo a hysterectomy. She is alive but her eyes were lifeless. I also met Mohammad, 12, from Jabaliya, who suffered spinal injuries and bone fractures. Mohammad arrived in Rafah unaccompanied. He says he does not remember what happened, but the trauma on his face was clear.
Türk issued an urgent appeal for the parties to agree to a ceasefire now, affirming the need for the urgent delivery of massive levels of humanitarian aid, throughout Gaza.
“It is no longer enough simply to say the 56-year occupation must end. The international community needs to be part of finding a just and equitable future for the Palestinian and Israeli people. They are each other’s only hopes for peace.”
T.R.
