SCRIPT
The UN Human Rights Office today published a report saying justice must be served with respect to the grave violations of international law that have been committed in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The report details the horrific reality that has unfolded for the people of Israel and Gaza since 7 October 2023.
“This report provides a detailed analysis of grave human rights violations over the six-month period from November 2023 to April 2024, and broadly examines the killing of civilians and breaches of international law that in many instances could amount to war crimes,” said UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence, during the launch of the launch of the report at the bi-weekly UN press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.
“If committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, further to a State or organizational policy, these violations may constitute crimes against humanity. And if committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, they may also constitute genocide, the report warns,” he added.
For his part, Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking from Amman, Jordan, said: “Gaza is now a rubble-strewn landscape.”
“Within this dystopia of destruction and devastation, those alive are left injured, displaced and starving. Women, men, children do not have access to adequate water, food or healthcare. People are left in cramped, unsanitary conditions, ridden with illness and disease. Women are left without access to basic hygiene and health needs. Children are separated from their parents,” he added.
“We have been verifying the personal details of those killed in Gaza by strikes, shelling and other conduct of hostilities. Of those fatalities, we have so far found close to 70 per cent to be children and women, indicating a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality,” he went on to say.
“Given the pattern of strikes throughout Gaza, and the fact they have not only killed and injured so many people, but also destroyed fundamental social structures and support networks of Palestinians in Gaza, they raise concerns that Israeli forces have intentionally attacked the very basic fabric of Palestinian society; have decimated the cohesion of Palestinian communities within Gaza,” he said.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact:
Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or
Jeremy Laurence - +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org or
Seif Magango: - +41 79 752 0488 / seif.magango@un.org
Tag and share
Twitter @UNHumanRights
Facebook unitednationshumanrights
Instagram @unitednationshumanrights
STORY: UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
TRT: SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 8 NOVEMBER 2024
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on deadly attacks by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNITED NATIONS , WFP , WHO
Gaza: Famine “irrefutably” confirmed, UN humanitarians unite in plea for aid access
Famine has been confirmed in Gaza Governorate by the world’s top authority on food security and will spread further within the Strip unless fighting stops and much more aid is allowed in, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on the eighth anniversary of military assault on the Rohingya in Myanmar
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on the declared famine in Gaza Governorate
3
36
1
2
Edited News , Statements , Images , Conferences | HRC , OCHA , UNOG
A record 383 aid workers were killed last year with hundreds more wounded, kidnapped and detained, the UN’s top aid official said on Tuesday in a call for accountability, at a solemn ceremony in Geneva to mark World Humanitarian Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following statement at today’s biweekly press briefing in Geneva:
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“In Gaza, the Israeli army has intensified its attacks in the north of the strip,” UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , OCHA
Gaza: Aid insufficient to avert ‘widespread starvation’ as Israeli military ramp-up forces more people to flee
The small trickle of aid entering Gaza is totally insufficient to alleviate starvation and displacement in the Strip, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.