By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) – The UN Human Rights Chief accused Israel on Wednesday of showing an unprecedented disregard for human rights in its military actions in Gaza and said Hamas had violated international law.
“Nothing justifies the appalling manner in which Israel has conducted its military operations in Gaza which consistently breached international law”, said Volker Turk, while presenting a new report on the human rights situation in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) also accused Hamas of grave violations since October 7.
“Hamas has indiscriminately fired projectiles into Israeli territory – amounting to war crimes”, Turk said.
Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. An Israeli retaliatory assault laid waste to most of Gaza and killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health officials.
Israel did not send a delegate to take to the floor to share their comments, which the representative of Chile said was regretful.
Israel previously strongly denied allegations of war crimes and breaches of international law in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying that its operations targeted Hamas militants and aimed to reduce civilian harm.
“The level of devastation in Gaza is massive – from homes, to hospitals to schools”, Turk said, adding that “restrictions imposed by Israel … have created a humanitarian catastrophe”, Turk told the Council.
Turk told the 58th Council that the report highlighted grave concerns that Hamas “may have committed other breaches of humanitarian law in Gaza, including the intentional co-location of military objectives and Palestinian civilians.”
He called for all violations to be investigated independently. However, he raised doubts about the will of the Israeli justice system to deliver full accountability – in line with international standards, and said he was unaware of any measures taken by Hamas and other groups to punish those responsible for rights breaches.
The OHCHR report said it had not received a response from Israel to its request for full access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to investigate violations by all parties.
The Palestinian representative at the Council accused Israel of committing war crimes and genocide against Palestinians, as well as denying aid to the enclave. Israel has repeatedly denied such accusations.
“Tents have been denied together with model homes. It has impeded access of food and medicines”, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi told the council.
He also strongly denounced settler violence and Israeli military operations in the West Bank, mentioned in the report. At least 40,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank since Israel began its operation last month after reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war.
“The litany of unspeakable horrors perpetrated against the Palestinians is unprecedented”, said Frankye Bronwen Levy, the representative for South Africa.
The European Union supported the report’s call for an independent investigation, condemned Hamas’ attack, as well as Israeli escalation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq reiterated calls for an end to the war and the realisation of a Palestinian state.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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