Turk stakeout 16 November 2023
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Press Conferences | OHCHR , UNITED NATIONS

Media Stakeout - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk -16 November 2023

Geneva, 16 November 2023

Excellencies,

 

A conflagration of violence has been unleashed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – both in Gaza and the West Bank – as well as in Israel. Given the magnitude of the challenges, I thought it important to provide this informal briefing following my mission to Egypt and Jordan last week, and to offer my recommendations. I am grateful to both countries for having facilitated my visit.

 

I met with senior officials of both Egypt and Jordan, as well as the State of Palestine, and the Secretary-General of the Arab League; many UN colleagues, and representatives of Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli civil society. I briefed journalists in Cairo and in Amman, with statements highlighting my key concerns and recommendations. I have also asked to visit Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory – a visit I consider very important.

 

I visited Rafah and El Arish, where I was struck by the horrific wounds of many patients at the hospital, including numerous children. I have also heard from a number of Israelis about their anguish, including families of the children and adults abducted by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.

 

Rarely have I heard such disturbing testimony about the catastrophic harm that ordinary people have endured, and which continues to mount. And never in my career of working in many crisis situations around the world have I met such an outpouring of fear, anger and despair.

 

The people of Gaza, who for years have been profoundly impoverished behind barbed wire fences, are enduring bombardment by the Israeli Security Forces of an intensity rarely experienced in this century.

 

One in every 57 people living in the Gaza strip has been killed or wounded in the past five weeks, according to figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health. Over 11,100 have been killed, more than 4,600 of them children. 102 of those killed were UN staff members: people whose only goal is to assist civilians. More than 26,000 people have been injured, many severely. And at least 2,000 more people are presumed to be trapped under the rubble of completely destroyed neighbourhoods, where there is no capacity to reach or rescue them. An entire population is being deeply traumatised.

 

In Israel, according to the authorities, 1,200 people, including many children, were killed in horrific attacks by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 and 8 October. 239 people, including children, were captured and taken to Gaza. And the nation has been thrown into shock.

 

It is apparent that on both sides, some view the killing of civilians as either acceptable collateral damage, or a deliberate and useful weapon of war. This is a humanitarian and human rights crisis. It represents a breakdown of the most basic respect for humane values. The killing of so many civilians cannot be dismissed as collateral damage. Not in a kibbutz. Not in a refugee camp. And not in a hospital.

 

As bombardment continues by air, intense urban warfare is also underway. In the very few hospitals that are still functioning, doctors operate on screaming children without anaesthetic, using mobile phones for light. WHO has recorded at least 137 attacks on health care in Gaza, with especially severe impact on Al-Shifa Hospital in recent days, where newborns on life support are dying due to power, oxygen, and water cuts, while many other patients of all ages are at risk – as well as medics, and people sheltering on the hospital grounds. And yet international humanitarian law requires special protection to medical units at all times, so that they can continue their life-saving work.

 

Many ordinary people have been forced to move south, seeking some kind of safety. They are carrying elderly family members, and terrified, sometimes wounded children, moving slowly on a bomb-cratered road. Others are unable to undertake the journey: hundreds of thousands of people – including many children, wounded, and people with disabilities – reportedly remain trapped in northern Gaza, where humanitarian access has become impossible.

 

The total depletion of fuel supplies is imminent, according to UNRWA, and it would be catastrophic across all of Gaza – leading to the complete collapse of water, sewage and crucial healthcare services, and ending the trickle of humanitarian assistance that has been permitted to date. Massive outbreaks of infectious disease, and hunger, seem inevitable.

 

Current proposals for a so-called ‘safe zone’ are untenable: the zone is neither safe nor feasible for the number of people in need. I refer you to the IASC statement that will be coming out shortly.

 

Excellencies,

 

No-one is above the law, and international humanitarian law is clear.

 

All parties to every conflict must, at all times, distinguish between civilians and combatants, and between civilian objects and military objectives. Attacks directed at civilians or protected civilian objects – hospitals, schools, and the markets and bakeries that constitute a lifeline – are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks – for example, aiming indiscriminate projectiles into southern Israel – are prohibited. Attacks where the likelihood of civilian death, and damage to protected objects, is disproportionate to the concrete and direct military advantage – as constantly risked by Israel’s use of explosive weapons with wide-area effect in densely populated areas of Gaza – are also prohibited. Forced displacement is prohibited. The taking and holding of hostages is prohibited, as is any use of civilians to shield locations from military operations. Collective punishment – as in the case of Israel’s blockade and siege imposed on Gaza  – is prohibited.

 

Extremely serious allegations of multiple and profound breaches of international humanitarian law, whoever commits them, demand rigorous investigation and full accountability. Where national authorities prove unwilling or unable to carry out such investigations, and where there are contested narratives on particularly significant incidents, international investigation is called for.

 

And it must be clear that breaches of international humanitarian law – even war crimes – committed by one party do not, ever, absolve the other from compliance with the clear principles of the law of war.

 

Excellencies,

 

The crisis extends well beyond Gaza. I am deeply concerned about the intensification of violence and severe discrimination against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In my view, this creates a potentially explosive situation, and I want to be clear: we are well beyond the level of early warning. I am ringing the loudest possible alarm bell about the occupied West Bank.

 

As I warned last Friday, settler attacks on Palestinians are increasing, and Israeli security forces have stepped up their use of military weaponry in law enforcement operations. Since the beginning of October, at least 190 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces or by settlers. My Office will be issuing a report on these issues, including conditions of detention.

 

I also share the deep sense of foreboding of many of my interlocutors about the risk of spill over into the wider Middle East region, if the current trajectory continues.

 

This crisis is another global shock to our multilateral system – polarising it further, and creating deeper fractures, with unbearable consequences for the solutions that humanity so urgently needs. We must not allow this to happen. Polarisation is a trap. Every one of us needs to strive to find common ground, and a solution.

 

Let me be clear. The outbreak of conflict is always a failure: A failure to find a peaceful solution. A failure of prevention. A failure to uphold human rights. I feel this deeply. The failure, in this case, has been long-standing, and many parties could count their part of responsibility in it.

 

But every conflict that has been enduringly resolved, has achieved that resolution through the advancement of justice, accountability and human rights.

           

Warnings by my Office, and others, about the explosive situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular Gaza; our careful documentation of human rights violations over many years; and our recommendations for de-escalation, accountability and justice have been ignored – not only in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, but by States with influence on the parties to this crisis.

 

The voice of reason, our work to report and document violations, and our advocacy for human rights, will persevere until it is heard.

 

Today, among both Israelis and Palestinians, entirely separate narratives are building up, parallel to each other and with no connection between them. Profound historical traumas have been revived. I plead for everyone to recognise and acknowledge this depth of pain, and the reality of the humanity and the suffering of the other. This is perhaps my most important recommendation: it is essential that all parties acknowledge that all human lives have equal value.

 

A vortex of disinformation and dehumanising rhetoric is tugging people away from reason and humanity, blocking the work of identifying and clearing the way out and forward.

 

We must not let rage submerge our moral compass. We must not lose our grip on reality to the myth that pain can be eradicated by unleashing it on a scapegoat. We must insist on the truth. And we must continue to insist on the humanity, and the value, of every life that is affected or destroyed in this fighting.

 

My Office is not partisan. But yes: I am taking sides. I am on the side of every civilian, Palestinian or Israeli, who is harmed, or who lives in fear. Every one of them has exactly the same rights to live and thrive in peace and in freedom. That is the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

     

Who can win a war in which so many children have been killed? Only extremism. The extremism that will continue grinding up the bodies and the future of the children of both sides – Palestinians and Israelis – and their children's children, until their future is only despair and bloodshed.

 

What kind of societies will emerge from this conflict? And where is the way out?

 

Israelis' freedom is inextricably bound up with Palestinians' freedom. Palestinians and Israelis are each others' only hope for peace. 

 

Last night, the Security Council adopted resolution 2712, calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip”, among other key demands on the parties. Such action is critically necessary.

 

I urge the parties to give effect, immediately, to the Council’s calls. And I urge all those with responsibility to step back from this devastating escalation of death, destruction and grief.

 

All States with influence must seek common ground, to disempower extremists by offering hope; and to build an enduring peace, through justice and the guarantee of equal rights.

 

There must be an end to grave human rights violations, notably against children.

 

All forms of collective punishment must come to an end. All hostages must be released.

 

International humanitarian and human rights law must be immediately and fully respected, including the principles of necessity, distinction, precaution and proportionality.

 

There must be a ceasefire on humanitarian and human rights grounds, and an end to the fighting – not only to deliver urgently needed food and water, but to create the space for a path out of this horror.

 

Rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, including fuel, and at the scale required, is urgently needed, and must be facilitated – including through Israeli crossings such as Kerem Shalom. My Office will remain deeply engaged, and I 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 protection work.

 

I further urge Israeli authorities to take immediate measures to ensure that the security forces comply with their obligations as an occupying power to protect Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including from violence by settlers. Continued, widespread impunity for such violations must stop.

 

Without genuine accountability, contested narratives cannot be resolved; and people will be unable to contemplate a shared, common future alongside each other. Accountability is the key to opening the possibility of a genuinely different reality.

 

We have issued numerous detailed recommendations to address the underlying drivers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, most recently in my speech to the Human Rights Council in March. It is urgent that their implementation begin.

 

In the fog of war it is particularly important to support including with financial resources, civil society, who act as eyes and ears.

 

Finally, it is clear that the Israeli occupation must end. It is essential to ensure the rights of Palestinians to self-determination and to their own State. And it is essential to acknowledge that Israel has a right to exist.

 

My Office will continue to do our 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, and our consistent standing on the international laws and standards that can ensure enduring peace, through respect for every human life.

Teleprompter
[Other language spoken]
Do you want to start or you want me to go ahead?
Hi, good morning everyone.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
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.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
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.
This needs to change.
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.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
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?
[Other language spoken]
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.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
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?
[Other language spoken]
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.
[Other language spoken]
Unfortunately, the figures gone up to 100 and three 103, so I wasn't aware.
So 103 colleagues who died.
Associated Press Hi.
[Other language spoken]
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.
[Other language spoken]
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.
[Other language spoken]
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.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Not the documentation, not the monitoring.
Don't let me see all the possible Basque combo.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
The problem marked you help us gonna Pennsylvania sufismore axe.
[Other language spoken]
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Thank you everyone.
[Other language spoken]