GENEVA, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) – The UN human rights chief warned on Friday that the sharp escalation of Israeli attacks and the denial of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip were amounting to ethnic cleansing.
“This latest barrage of bombs, forcing people to move amid the threat of intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighborhoods, and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk.
The High Commissioner said this week’s intensification raises fears of the start of an even wider Israeli offensive and urged all parties, including third States with direct influence, to stop the assault. “We must stop the clock on this madness,” he said.
He pointed out that “already, medical services are in a state of collapse, shelters continue to shrink under displacement orders and destruction, and families are forced to live in tents under conditions far below standards keeping their human dignity, and extreme hunger is deepening due to the Israeli blockade.”
On 13 May, the Israeli military struck two of the largest hospitals in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospital, leaving the latest out of service, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
“Hospitals are protected at all times - and are even more indispensable during war,” he said. “The killing of patients or of people visiting their wounded or sick loved ones, or of emergency workers or other civilians just seeking shelter, is as tragic as it is abhorrent. These attacks must cease.
“Even if, as Israel says, it was targeting Hamas command centres underground, and even if destroying these structures offered a definite military advantage at the time of the attack, it is bound by international law to ensure that constant care is taken to spare the lives of civilians, and that’s clearly not the case.”
CCTV footage broadcast by international news outlets and taken immediately prior to at least one of the strikes at the European Hospital shows children, women and men walking around seemingly oblivious to the impending attack. Their presence is very likely to have been known given the constant aerial surveillance over the Gaza Strip, in particular areas being targeted.
International humanitarian law requires that an attack be suspended when it becomes apparent that it would be unlawful. Using a hospital for harmful military purposes is forbidden under international humanitarian law. However, even when hospitals are being used outside their humanitarian functions, for acts harmful to the enemy, there are strict protection rules in place. This includes issuing a time-bound warning to stop its hostile use before any attack. If not heeded, protection may cease but forces still must ensure any attack complies with principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.
“The laws of war, built on the Geneva Conventions, are sacrosanct, as are the rules requiring all States, without exceptions to protect human rights, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” the Human Rights Chief said. “All actors are bound to strictly respect these rules. Those who do not must be held to account.”
K.F.
