Do you want to start or you want me to go ahead?
Hi, good morning everyone.
There were, of course, many Member States that still wanted to speak, so we got delayed with the stakeout.
I'll pass the floor to the **** Commissioner.
Few opening remarks and then we'll take questions.
**** Commissioner, please.
As you know, I visited Cairo, Rafa al Arish Aman last week.
I met senior officials from, and I mean senior officials from Egypt, the Palestine, Jordan.
But I also had a chance to engage with human rights defenders and civil society actors, Palestinian, Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian human rights defenders and, and civil society actors.
I and I, as I mentioned, I visited the AL Arish Hospital where you had a number of Palestinians who had been evacuated because of grave injuries.
And I was really struck by the horrific wounds that I saw of many patients from Gaza, including numerous children.
I've also heard in the past from a number of Israeli families whose loved ones had been abducted by the Palestinian armed groups about their anguish.
As I told this morning, we have seen an conflagration, a conflagration of violence that has been unleashed in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Both in Gaza and the West Bank, but also in Israel, there has been a breakdown of the most basic respect for humane values.
The killing of so many civilians cannot be dismissed as collateral damage.
The only winner of such a war is likely to be extremism and further extremism.
I think we have seen this as many histories, lessons from the past that this unfortunately fuels extremism.
Warnings by my office and others about human rights violations over many years have been ignored, not only in Israel and the in the occupied Palestinian territory, but also by states with influence on the parties to this crisis.
For this conflict to be enduringly resolved, we need justice, accountability, and the prevailing and the strong voice of human rights, the voice of reason.
Our work to report and document violations and our advocacy for human rights will persevere until this voice is heard and this work is done.
I I'll just share with you a couple of urgent calls for action.
It's absolutely clear with the adoption of the Security Council resolution that was adopted last night, the parties must give immediate effect to what the Security Council has asked them to do and that was made very clear in the resolution.
But there must also be a ceasefire based on humanitarian and human rights grounds.
There needs to be an end to the fighting, not only to deliver the urgently needed basic necessities of life, electricity, water, fuel and so forth, but also to create the political space for a path out of this horror.
International human rights and humanitarian law must be immediately and fully respected, including the principles of necessity, distinction, precaution and proportionality.
All forms of collective punishment must come to an end.
All hostages must be released.
We need rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, including fuel and at the scale required, and this must be facilitated.
I understand that the Philippe Lazarini, the Andra head of, of the, of the we'll talk to you later today and give you more details on this, but we also need more entries into Gaza, including through Israel.
I mean, KRM Shalom is is 1 crossing where this could be done.
I also stress the importance of full access to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza, for my office to ensure full and independent monitoring and documentation and to coordinate the protection work within the humanitarian response.
Israeli authorities must take immediate measures to ensure that the security Israeli security forces comply with their obligations as an occupying power to protect certain Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, including from violence by settlers.
All states with influence must seek common ground to disempower extremists by offering hope to build an enduring peace through justice and the guarantee of equal rights.
Without genuine accountability, we know that contested narratives cannot be resolved and people will be unable to contemplate a shared common future alongside each other.
And it is clear that the status quo was untenable and that the Israeli occupation must end.
My office will continue to do its utmost to assist all parties to step back from the precipice to which extremism and violence have led.
Our strongest assets will remain our principled independence, our consistent standing on the international laws and standards that can ensure enduring peace through respect for every human life.
Regarding the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza adopted yesterday demanding humanitarian posts, I want to ask how binding you think this decision will be for Israel and what would be the consequences if the state doesn't follow?
And also, considering the current humanitarian situation, how long should it take to turn this resolution check into an action?
So it's very clear what the Security Council resolution itself says.
It needs to be implemented immediately.
It also has a monitor, It has a mechanism by which the UN is asked to report back on its implementation.
So it's absolutely clear.
I mean, it's the beginning of what is needed to act to, to mitigate the extremely precarious humanitarian situation in Gaza.
So it has to be implemented at once.
I was wondering if you could say a little bit about your discussions for entry into Gaza and as well as you've requested and if you're hopeful that that that could go ahead and when.
And also on the issue of the the investigation that you mentioned in your speech, the international investigation, what kind of form would you expect that to take and how hopeful would you be of success given the lack of cooperation with previous investigations in in this area?
I think first of all, I've asked Israel to give me access both to Israel, but also to the occupied Palestinian territory.
I've not yet received a response, which means hope, as I keep saying, hope springs eternal.
I think it is very important for me to go to Israel and also I've I've been at the disposal of both Palestinians and Israelis to find a way out of this current crisis.
Because one of the missing links that we have seen over so many years is the one that you have mentioned accountability, justice and truth telling, including on the basis of when you have conflicting narratives.
You need an investigation that is, that is independent in order to make sure that we can actually get out of otherwise a polarised, totally binary view of of what is happening or what happened.
So for me, it's one big lesson learnt which actually in a way refreshes the human rights narrative in all of this.
Because that's what human rights is about.
It is about accountability, it is about justice, it is about truth telling.
So I hope that there is a big lesson to be learnt for the international community, for all parties to this conflict, to finally heat the recommendations that we have made, my office has made for decades.
**** Commissioner, correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like there's one country in the world that is stopping the United Nations from doing their humanitarian work in a situation that 200 other countries and yourself have have called carnage and horrible situation.
What does it say about the United Nations if one country can stop humanitarian work that is so badly needed?
What leverage do you have to change the stance of that one country, Israel?
Well, we actually go back to the very difficult thing that one has to explain to the outside world.
There is, on the one hand, all of us working for the United Nations, working under its flag.
We have 102 colleagues that have been killed.
This is unprecedented, as you know, and we mourn.
And for these colleagues who have been in Gaza doing the type of services that are needed on the humanitarian front, on the development front, and, and that is very telling.
And then there are the member states.
I mean, that finally the Security Council acted on it is extremely important.
Obviously we need much more.
We need this to continue and we need to make sure that it is at the end of the day about international law and about accountability, as I I said before, where also the whole human rights dimension plays, plays an incredibly important role when it comes to humanitarian assistance.
I can only hope that finally this will be implemented as a matter of urgency because as you know, the needs are enormous and we can only hope that all our humanitarian partners are able to do their work.
But for that, you need humanitarian space, you need access, you need protection, you need deconfliction, and that's what is needed.
Unfortunately, the figures gone up to 100 and three 103, so I wasn't aware.
So 103 colleagues who died.
Thank you for coming to see us.
I have two very quick questions, one of which is there are leaflets being dropped on the eastern side of Han Yunus urging evacuation.
Where are those people supposed to go right now?
And then the second question is about Shifa.
There have been some regalia, various military goods apparently have been turned up inside the around the hospital.
Was this raid justified by the by the Israelis?
Well, on the first one, when it again, international humanitarian law is clear, if the principles of necessity, precaution, distinction, proportionality require certain military operation to be undertaken, there are obligations on the part of the military actor to ensure that those who are evacuated get an effective warning, are able to find safety, are able to be accommodated, get food, get shelter and that it's only temporary.
That's what international humanitarian law says.
We know the situation in Gaza.
It's one of the most densely populated zones in the world.
We have been absolutely clear that at the current moment, we do not consider any part of Gaza to be safe.
So it's clear that when you look at this type of operations, we need to make sure that the international humanitarian law perspective, the various criteria that need to be attached to it are made loud and clear on Archiva Hospital.
As I said, we have seen unfortunately the deterioration of of of medical facilities and hospitals.
I think the figure is was 100.
I can't remember exactly what the figure is on The Who, but WHO has given us the figures of how many of the hospitals are actually no longer properly functioning, which is of course extremely distressing.
So you need to go the extra extra mile to make sure that patients, medical personnel are protected in the current.
We have seen in this particular case contradictory and contradictory statements.
This actually is the type of thing where you would actually want an independent international investigation to find out what is actually happening if there were guns that were currently found inside which is which, which is what I say that is precisely what needs to be investigated.
Sorry, we've only got time for one more question.
Merci beaucoup plant, Israel.
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