Türk calls for end to "carnage" in Gaza
29 February 2024
DELIVERED BY
Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
AT
Interactive Dialogue on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
LOCATION
Geneva
Mr President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
There appear to be no bounds to – no words to capture – the horrors that are unfolding before our eyes in Gaza.
Since early October, over 100,000 people have been killed or wounded. Let me repeat that: about one in every 20 children, women, and men, are now dead or wounded.
At least 17,000 children are orphaned or separated from their families, while many more will carry the scars of physical and emotional trauma life-long. Today, the total number of people killed has exceeded 30,000. And tens of thousands of people are missing, many presumed buried under the rubble of their homes.
This is carnage.
The attacks on Israeli civilians on 7 and 8 October were shocking. Profoundly traumatising. And totally unjustifiable. The killing of civilians, reports of torture and sexual violence inflicted by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, and the holding of hostages since that time, are appalling and entirely wrong. And so is the brutality of the Israeli response; the unprecedented level of killing and maiming of civilians in Gaza, including UN staff and journalists; the catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by restrictions on humanitarian aid; the displacement of at least three-quarters of the population, often multiple times; the massive destruction of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure – and in many cases, systematic demolition of entire neighbourhoods, rendering Gaza largely unliveable.
The war in Gaza must end. Clear violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, including war crimes and possibly other crimes under international law, have been committed by all parties. It is time – well past time – for peace, investigation and accountability.
Excellencies,
Last year, I described before this Council the already dire situation across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
In 56 years of Israeli occupation, profoundly discriminatory systems of control were imposed on Palestinians to restrict their rights, including the right to movement, with major impact on their equality, housing, health, work, education and family life. A 16 year-long blockade of the Gaza Strip kept most of its 2.2 million people effectively in captivity, and destroyed the local economy. The lives of generations of Palestinians in the West Bank were punctuated by harassment, control, arbitrariness – including arbitrary arrests and detentions – and increasing Israeli military and settler violence. Meanwhile, illegal settlements continued to grow, leading de facto to increased annexation of Palestinians’ lands. Imagine the endless humiliation and suppression endured.
Today, this situation is incomparably worse.
Report A/HRC/55/28, which is before you, makes for very painful reading. Thousands of tonnes of munitions have been dropped by Israel on Gaza, including repeated use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects. These weapons send out a massive blast wave of high pressure that may rupture internal organs, as well as fragmentation projectiles, and heat so intense that it causes deep burns – and they have been used in densely populated residential neighbourhoods. In Egypt's El-Arish hospital, last November, I saw children whose flesh had been seared. I will never forget this.
Under Article 1, common to the four Geneva Conventions, all States must respect and – crucially – ensure respect for international humanitarian law set out in those Conventions. This responsibility comes alive when there is a real risk that arms transferred to a party to a conflict may be used in violation of this law. Any such enabling of violations of international humanitarian law must cease at once. This is the core of due diligence.
Over the past five months of warfare, the Office has recorded many incidents that may amount to war crimes by Israeli forces, as well as indications that Israeli forces have engaged in indiscriminate or disproportionate targeting that violates international humanitarian law.
The launching by Palestinian armed groups of indiscriminate projectiles across southern Israel, and as far as Tel Aviv, also violates international humanitarian law, as does the continued holding of hostages. I have met with some of the hostages' families, and I feel their pain.
Mr President,
Between 8 and 21 October 2023, Israel imposed a complete ban on all supply of aid, food, fuel and electricity to Gaza. Since then, Israel has continued to hinder humanitarian assistance. All people in Gaza are at imminent risk of famine. Almost all are drinking salty and contaminated water. Healthcare across the territory is barely functioning. Just imagine what this means for the wounded, and people suffering infectious disease outbreaks. In northern Gaza, where the operational space for humanitarian work is now almost zero, many are already believed to be starving. In all other parts of Gaza, humanitarian assistance has become extremely challenging – and this is not only dangerous, but also dehumanising.
The blockade and siege imposed on Gaza amount to collective punishment, and may also amount to the use of starvation as a method of war – both of which, committed intentionally, are war crimes.
In addition, almost all the population of Gaza has been forcibly displaced, and thousands of people have been detained, many of them incommunicado, in conditions that may amount to enforced disappearance.
Let me be absolutely clear, and issue yet another stark warning. The prospect of an Israeli ground assault on Rafah would take the nightmare being inflicted on people in Gaza into a new dimension. Over 1.5 million people are sheltering in Rafah, despite continuing bombardment, and it has become Gaza's humanitarian hub. A ground assault would incur potentially massive loss of life; additional risk of atrocity crimes; new displacement, to another unsafe location; and sign a death warrant for any hope of effective humanitarian aid. For my part, I fail to see how such an operation could be consistent with the binding provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice. I call on all States with influence to do everything within their power to avert such an outcome.
Mr President,
In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli forces’ use of airstrikes, attack helicopters, anti-tank missiles, shoulder-fired explosive projectiles and other weapons of war , has continued to increase, with lethal results, including killings of children. The report also notes a growing pattern of Israeli forces preventing paramedics from reaching Palestinians, including children, who have been injured in such operations.
From 1 January to 6 October, last year had already seen the highest levels of violence by Israeli military personnel and settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since United Nations records began in 2005. From 7 October last year to 23 February this year, at least 401 Palestinians in the West Bank were killed, 102 of them children. The vast majority of cases that the Office has monitored raise concerns of unlawful killings, including extra-judicial killings.
In the past, accountability was very rarely served in such cases; it is imperative that it be served now.
Since 7 October, more than 7,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been arbitrarily detained. About 9,000 are currently being held as 'security prisoners', over 3,400 of them in administrative detention without charge or prospect of a trial; and at least 606 are being held incommunicado.
Mr President,
And yet we must hold on to the promise that peace is achievable in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. For that to work, the occupation must end. Israeli leaders must accept the right of Palestinians to live in an independent state. And all Palestinian factions must accept the right of Israel to exist in peace and security.
The goal is to achieve a safer, more peaceful future for all, and the war in Gaza is taking Palestinians and Israelis further from that goal every day. There must be an end to these hostilities – not only an immediate ceasefire, but an end to this war. All hostages must immediately and unconditionally be released, and the thousands of Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel must also be released.
Accountability must be served on all sides. A raft of measures to re-establish human rights, equality, accountability and justice must be adopted across the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. I urge a positive response to the repeated requests by my Office for full access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to document and investigate credible allegations of human rights violations and abuses.
Keeping Palestinians and their rights walled off – "out of sight, out of mind" – has not worked in 56 years, and it can never, ever work. The core challenge of building peace is for all to see and fully grasp the humanity of the other, overcoming mindsets that have been deeply engraved by generations of harm and rage, and which conceal the truth: that people – Palestinian and Israeli people – are being cruelly harmed.
Excellencies,
Whether in Gaza or anywhere else, I urge you all to avert a new era of power politics that casts aside laws, norms and the institutions so painstakingly built to advance them. Our universal rights and fundamental humanity depend on reversing any such trajectory.
Thank you, Mr President.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2024/02/turk-calls-end-carnage-gaza
--------------------------------------------------------
Translation Google
Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories
"We hold Israel responsible for the situation of extreme deprivation and desperation in Gaza"
We are horrified by the attack on Palestinians waiting for help in the north of the Strip. More than 100 people have been killed and around 750 injured, according to local health authorities, after Israeli forces reportedly opened fire while Palestinians waited to receive food from aid trucks.
MSF
03/01/2024
“We are horrified by the latest news from Gaza City, where more than 100 people have been killed and around 750 injured , according to local health authorities, after Israeli forces reportedly opened fire while the Palestinians expected to receive food from aid trucks. Our staff were not present on site and due to poor telecommunications, we are currently unable to contact our medical staff who are still working in some hospitals in the north.
However, what we do know is that the situation in Gaza, and particularly in the north, is catastrophic . A few days ago, when we spoke to our staff there, they told us that they did not have enough food and that some were turning to pet food to survive. They also denounced the lack of water and its poor quality in general, which causes diseases.
This situation is the direct result of the series of excessive decisions taken by the Israeli authorities while fighting this war: a relentless bombing and shelling campaign , a total siege imposed on the enclave, bureaucratic obstacles and the lack of security mechanisms to guarantee a safe distribution of food from the south to the north of Gaza, the systematic destruction of livelihoods such as agriculture, livestock and fishing.
The north has gone months without aid, leaving people trapped and with no choice but to try to survive with minimal amounts of food, water and medical supplies. Entire neighborhoods have been bombed and destroyed.
We hold Israel responsible for the situation of extreme deprivation and despair prevailing in Gaza, particularly in the north, which has led to today's tragic events.
Doctors Without Borders reiterates our call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire . “We call on the Israeli authorities to allow the unimpeded and streamlined delivery of humanitarian and essential aid , such as food, in the Gaza Strip and throughout its extension, and to immediately cease attacks against the civilian population.”
https://www.msf.es/noticia/consider...acion-privacion-y-desesperacion-extremas-Gaza
--------------------------------------------------
Statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Government
The 37th Government
Publish Date
29.02.2024
Updated date
01.03.2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening at the Kirya in Tel Aviv [translated from Hebrew]:
"Dear citizens of Israel,
At the start of my remarks, I would like to send condolences to the families of those who were murdered in the abhorrent terrorist attack near Eli, may G-d avenge them. Since the start of the war, we have eliminated almost 400 terrorists in Judea and Samaria. The battle is still underway; it has exacted from us a heavy cost.
Since October 7, we have been conducting two campaigns: A military campaign and a diplomatic campaign. The military campaign is designed to destroy Hamas, return all of our hostages and ensure that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel. The diplomatic campaign is designed to provide the military campaign with the time and resources to achieve these goals – until total victory is achieved.
For five months, my colleagues and I have been working on a daily basis with world leaders and in the global media to allow freedom of action for the IDF and the security forces. This freedom of action is unprecedented in the history of the state.
As Prime Minister of Israel, I am committed to safeguarding our existential interests in spite of the growing and increasing pressure on us. This is how my predecessors acted at decisive junctures: In the face of international opposition, David Ben-Gurion declared Israel's independence. Levi Eshkol embarked on the Six Day War and Menachem Begin ordered the attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor. This is what I have also done as Prime Minister for many years in the face of great pressures: In the continuing fight against the Iranian nuclear program, in halting the effort to compel us to accept a Palestinian terrorist state, and in doubling the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria in the face of pressure to strangle us completely.
And today, together with my colleagues, I am rejecting the international pressure to end the war before we achieve all of its goals. As I said, even though this pressure is growing and increasing, our efforts are bearing fruit in the most important diplomatic arena which is, of course, the US. This week a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll was published; it determined that 82% of the American public supports Israel. That is to say that more than four out five US citizens supports us and not Hamas. This broad support gives us redoubled energy to continue the campaign until total victory.
We are taking strong action against our enemies on all fronts: In the north, we are striking Hezbollah, eliminating its and Iran's senior commanders in our region and preventing them from carrying out their murderous designs.
In the south, we are continuing to eliminate Hamas's battalions in Khan Yunis and they are also preparing for the continuation. And let it be clear to you – there will be a continuation. Victory over Hamas requires the elimination of all remaining Hamas battalions both in the center of the Strip and in Rafah. We will do so while evacuating the civilian population from the combat zones. We will do so with concern for the humanitarian needs and we will do so while respecting international law – because that is how we operate.
At the same time, we are making a relentless effort to return all of our hostages. Citizens of Israel, this is a sacred goal; we are working on it around the clock. I demand to know in advance the names of all the hostages who will be included in the outline. I have yet to receive an answer on the two questions and it is too early to say, in spite of our willingness, if we will achieve an outline for an additional release in the coming days. We are making great efforts to succeed but one thing is clear to you – we will not capitulate in the face of Hamas's delusional demands. We will not do this because if we capitulate, we will simply not be here. But as of today, thanks to the combination of military pressure and tough negotiations, we have succeeded in returning alive 112 of our hostages. We are determined to return them all. With or without an outline, we will fight until total victory.
Citizens of Israel, we are achieving the goals of the war thanks to the heroism of our fighters and the unity among us. Recently, this unity was expressed in an unprecedented Knesset vote – 99 MKs acceded to my initiative to vote against international diktat to force on us the establishment of a Palestinian state. The last time that there were 99 MKs together was 30 years ago, on the peace agreement with Jordan. When we stand together, we are very strong. Since the start of the war, we have shown amazing unity on the battlefield and in Israeli society, unity which has astounded our enemies and friends alike.
Everyone who comes here tells me, be it in a taxi or on the street, or in our meetings with various sectors, they say: 'We encounter an astounding unity here.' They see our soldiers and say: 'We encounter here a marvelous unity.' This is what foreign visitors are saying.
We must continue with this unity in order to achieve total victory. In this spirit, I am convinced that we have the power to overcome even the issue of sharing the burden and enlistment. First, we must lighten the burden of reserve duty and increase the compensation to conscripts and reservists. I do not agree with the intention to double reserve duty across the board; to increase it three- or four-fold. The IDF can continue issuing emergency call-up orders as required, according to need.
Second, I am preparing a law to dramatically compensate those leaving the military by giving great discounts on land in the Galilee, the Negev and national preference areas. I will give you an example: A discharged soldier who does not own an apartment, will receive a 90% discount on the land, and a discharged combat soldier without an apartment will receive a 95% discount, almost free. Our heroic fighters have earned this. They defended our home and they will now receive land on which to build homes.
Third, regarding enlistment. I deeply appreciate the Torah study of our ultra-orthodox brothers. I also recognize and appreciate their joining the civilian emergency and rescue organizations that are doing sacred work. However, in addition to this, I must say: One cannot ignore the sense among the public over the gap in sharing the security burden. I will tell you something else, the ultra-orthodox public also recognizes this need. It is prepared to change the situation. Therefore, we will set goals for recruiting ultra-orthodox men into the IDF and civilian service. We will also determine the ways to ensure the implementation of these goals. It is possible to achieve this arrangement without dividing the nation and without inciting against anyone.
I am certain that it is possible to secure a Knesset majority for this arrangement but one thing is clear to me: It is impossible to achieve absolute agreement. Do you know where there is absolute agreement? In North Korea. In a democracy, there is the agreement of the majority. Whoever demands absolute agreement will not achieve any agreement. It is enough that someone in the coalition is interested in going to elections, then we will be dragged into elections. It is enough that if there is an element with extremist demands on the enlistment issue – one way or the other – then we will also be dragged into elections.
And what is the significance of general elections now? General elections mean stopping the war, that is to say, the defeat of Israel. General elections mean paralyzing the country for six months, perhaps eight. Six months in which the country, the Government and the Knesset will be paralyzed and torn apart. In such a situation, the Government's hands will be tied. It will be unable to make decisions – not on the hostages, not on Rafah, not on Hezbollah, not on anything.
And not only the will the Government be paralyzed and torn apart – our soldiers will be torn apart. These are not municipal elections, in which a soldier from Hebron is in an APC together with a soldier from Ramat Hasharon. In these elections, there was no argument among them, each one looked to his own affairs. But in general elections, not only will there be arguments, there will be emotions, there will be camps, there will be defiance. This will be deadly fire inside our national APC. This must not happen to us during a war, while we are so close to victory.
Citizens of Israel, I reiterate to you that general elections during the war would mean defeat for Israel. This is the exact dream of Sinwar, Nasrallah and Iran. They are just waiting for it. I know what I am talking about. I will tell you something else: All the members of the Cabinet know what I am talking about.
Therefore, citizens of Israel, this is the time for unity. This is the time for agreements among us. Together with you, I say this evening to the leaders of the world, to both our friends and our opponents, do not mistake us. We are determined to fight to the end, until total victory.
We will always remember that all of this is achieved thanks to our soldiers. All of this is achieved thanks to the heroes of the people. I salute them for being daring, for storming forward amidst self-sacrifice, and I embrace the families of the fallen, in their unbearable pain.
At the start of the week, my wife Sara and I went to Shavei Shomron and visited the family of St.-Sgt. Neria Baleta, from the Givati Brigade Reconnaissance Unit, who fell heroically in battle in the Gaza Strip. Neria is the son of Rabbi Rahamim and Bat-Sheva, who made aliyah to Samaria from Ethiopia. Neria's grandfather was murdered in Sudan en route to Zion, and his grandson was a brave fighter who fell for Zion. We wept together with the rabbi, the father Rahamim, and the mother Bat-Sheva, as they spoke with emotion about their heroic son, who loved his people and his country.
For Neria, for all of the fallen, for the security of our future, we will continue to fight until total victory.
Together we will fight and with G-d's help, together we will win."
This page was last updated on 01.03.2024
https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/event-press290224
