In Israel and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories, all parties must stop targeting civilians and Hamas
and other armed groups must immediately release their hostages,
UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Tuesday.
The High Commissioner said that he was “deeply
shocked and appalled by allegations of summary executions of
civilians, and, in some instances, horrifying mass killings by
members of Palestinian armed groups”.
“It is horrific and deeply distressing to see images of those
captured by Palestinian armed groups being ill-treated, as well
as reports of killings and the desecration of their bodies.
Civilians must never be used as bargaining chips,” he
insisted.
Avoid ‘collective punishment’
Four days since Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched an
attack including thousands of indiscriminate rockets that have
reached central Israel, Mr. Türk also warned against
indiscriminate or disproportionate action against Gaza and
expressed concern over the “full siege” of the territory ordered
by the Israeli authorities on Monday, shutting off electricity,
water, food and fuel supplies.
He stressed that collective punishment of an entire population
was prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Displacement continues ‘en masse’
UN humanitarians briefing the press in Geneva on Tuesday
underscored the dire conditions faced by civilians in Gaza, where
nearly 140,000 newly displaced people have been sheltering in
schools run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai told journalists that
displacement continued “en masse” and that while the agency had
significant experience turning its schools into shelters, the
scale of the crisis was overwhelming.
UNRWA a ‘lifeline’
Complicating the response was the fact that airstrikes have
damaged 18 UNRWA facilities in the Gaza Strip, including a school
for the visually impaired and the agency’s headquarters in Gaza
City, Ms. Alrifai said.
Speaking from Amman, she underscored that all UN buildings are
protected under international law, and that the 1.7 million
Palestine refugees in Gaza, the majority of whom are living under
the poverty line, “use UNRWA as a lifeline” for food, education
and health.
She said that the agency was about to issue a flash humanitarian
appeal to seek support for the crisis response.
Ms. Alrifai also refuted allegations that Hamas fighters may be
using UNRWA facilities for their operations, stressing that
dedicated teams conduct inspections of facilities to “make sure
that they are immune to use by any warring party or armed
groups”.
“We take this extremely seriously,” she insisted.
Calls for a humanitarian corridor
Echoing the humanitarian concerns, the UN health agency WHO said that as of Monday,
13 health attacks have been confirmed in the Gaza Strip since the
beginning of the current offensive.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told reporters that a
humanitarian corridor is needed to reach people with critical
supplies and that the agency is “working on this” with its
partners.
He said that since before the latest crisis WHO has been
providing supplies, training health workers and supporting
emergency response plans, but that supplies pre-positioned in
seven major hospitals in the Gaza Strip have now been used up.
Massive mental health needs
Mr. Jasarevic also underscored the soaring mental health needs
triggered by the crisis, including the psychological trauma of
the hostages taken by Palestinian armed groups. He stressed that
the most important thing for those held captive and “going
through these horrific moments” was to be released, and that they
needed physical and mental care.
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James
Elder said that the agency had experts in psychosocial support in
Gaza and in the West Bank ready to provide assistance to those
who needed it.
‘Listen to the children of Gaza and Israel’
“When you listen to the testimonies coming out of Gaza, from
children in Israel, it is consistent stories of fear, of
suffering, of pain,” Mr. Elder said.
“We have to listen to those children of Gaza and of Israel who
are very clearly and usually through tears saying, ‘Enough. Leave
us alone.’”
According to UNICEF, before the current escalation, over one
million children were already in need of humanitarian aid in the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank, accounting for approximately half
the child population.
