Stern statement from Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Jordan yesterday, after his trip to Rafah. Anyone who respects human rights & wants to know what's happening in Israel-Palestine should read this in its entirety.
HCHR calls for Member States to press urgently for an immediate #CeaseFire
"the complete siege now lasting over one month has made it an agony for residents in Gaza...to survive. All forms of #CollectivePunishment must come to an end."
HCHR demands "meaningful investigations & accountability to end this cycle of violence & vengeance against entire communities. Where national authorities prove unwilling or unable to carry [them] out...there needs to be independent, international investigation.
As I've said, Israel's top leaders have made statements evidencing genocidal intent. HCHR is talking about that here:
"The Government of Israel must take all measures to put an end to incidents of hate speech & incitement against Palestinians. Some of the statements coming out from high-level officials are not only abhorrent, they can amount to incitement to hatred & violence – & in some cases could contribute to evidence of intent to conduct hostilities in a manner contrary to the laws of war"
@chargrille Israel thinks & treats UN & international human rights laws as a joke. They seriously don't care because they got USA - fellow warmongering war crimes govt pals, funding & enabling them.
@msquebanh@chargrille After looking it up I didn't remember the facts correctly. Nasser of Egypt told the UN to leave and they complied. This caused Israel to lose faith in UN and why the MFO has been the peacekeeping force in the Sinai since the late 1970's.
Internal erosion of civil liberties by #Netanyahu's right wing coalition govt:
"I heard from Israeli human rights defenders, deeply distressed & outraged by the plight of civilians in Gaza. They were also disturbed by what this is doing to #Israel. In fact what they said to me and I quote: “We are not allowed to protest for peace – we will return from this war with much less freedom. We don’t know what kind of society will emerge at the end of this"
IDF's incessant bombing of civilians must stop
"use of high impact explosive weapons in densely populated areas, razing 10,000s of buildings to the ground...#Israel must immediately end the use of such methods & means of warfare, & the attacks must be investigated"
"strikes on residential areas in Jabalia, #Gaza city, Al Bureij, Al Nuseirat, Al Meghazi, & Khan Yunis....we have very serious concerns that these amount to disproportionate attacks in breach of international humanitarian law"#IHL
Strikes on medical staff/buildings violate IHL & laws of war; must end
"Strikes on hospitals & [vicinity] in #Gaza city have been particularly intense, esp. around the 2 biggest hospitals in the area – Indonesia hospital in Beit Lahiya & Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city... strikes on surrounding areas render access to hospitals difficult, including by destroying roads. [#IHL] is clear: it extends special protection to medical units & requires that they be protected & respected at all times"
Yes, it does still apply. Several UN heads of agencies have confirmed that & re-emphasized the application of #IHRL over the last few days.
It would be a war crime for Hamas to do what IDF has alleged (without public proof, & against firm denials by medical staff at these hospitals), but that would still not lessen Israel's responsibilities under international human rights laws and laws of war.
Or do you think the dozens of operatives of Mossad and ShinBet in Gaza are criminally incompetent?
The location is basically #OSINT and they even released damning evidence, including calls complaining about the resource theft by Hamas from said hospital...
@kkarhan You avoid acknowledging Israel's legal obligations noted by HCHR. Since you don't actually care about the law, kindly unfollow me.
"What about...Palestinians in hospital...on life support & babies in incubators, whose life support & incubator will have to be turned off because the Israelis have cut the power to Gaza?"
Former PM Bennett: "Are you seriously keep on asking me about Palestinian civilians? What's wrong with you?...I'm not going to feed electricity or water to my enemies"
@kkarhan Thank you so much. I was working on a post as I got seriously concerned about the amount of certain minds of (actually you'd have to call them antisemitic) boosts by @chargrille. There's more. Like the land grab myth. Or the "ethnic cleansing" BS which is funny as we are talking about ISRAEL here which Hamas, Hisbollah and historically some other organizations or nations want or wanted to be gone forever. (If Canada tried to push everybody in Michigan "into the lake" you wouldn't blame the US for launching a missile or two.)
Also, you don't send ground troops to a place you just want to bomb. They're not there to look at the fireworks.
That said, the right wing government is still something to worry about.
#Hamas did the aggression well knowing of the #ForeseeableConsequences because they need to loathe in self-victimization even if that means they'll drag every child in the line of fire.
Because that's how they as a #SuicideCult operate.
OFC it's clear that #Netanyahu let them commit said athoricities without preemtive intervention because he wanted to break the strike if #IDF reservists that protest him doing facism...
@datenritter@chargrille
Cuz neither Mossad nor ShinBet are that incompetent to not notice that #Hamas fighters literally rip kilometers of water pipes out of the ground and turned them into rockets whilst bragging on social media about it.
A #Ceasefire in #Gaza however won't happen until all #Hostages have been released, cuz that's the consensus #Netanyahu committed himself after talking with the FMs of the other nations who's citizens got abducted...
Regardless, "does not absolve Israel of its obligation to ensure that civilians are spared–that the principles of distinction, precautions in attack & proportionality are respected. Failure to do so is also in contravention of the laws of war"
Israel's total siege of food, water, power, fuel to Gazan territory (whose boundaries they control) is illegal #Collective Punishment; must stop immediately
"the complete siege now lasting over one month has made it an agony for [2.3m people] in Gaza...to survive. All forms of collective punishment must [end]...nowhere in #Gaza is safe, as bombardments are being reported in all parts of the Strip. It also needs to be absolutely clear that civilians are protected under #IL wherever they are"
Substantial discussion of the evidence of forced displacements by #Israelis in WB (potential "grave violations of the Geneva Convention") & other #IHL/#WarCrime violations committed by Israelis in the WB. Notes 2023 was already the deadliest year on record for WB Palestinians before Oct 7.
Calls on Israel "urgently" to stop the settler violence & dispossession of land, & forced evictions & intimidation of Palestinians by Israeli state forces.
"a matter of urgency, for Israeli authorities to take immediate measures [to protect] Palestinians in the West Bank – who are being on a daily basis subjected to violence from Israeli forces & settlers... a sharp increase in settler violence & takeover of land across the West Bank [since Oct 7] nearly 1,000 Palestinians from at least 15 herding communities have been forced from their homes...may amount to the forcible transfer of a population...a grave breach of the Fourth #GenevaConvention"
"I call on the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations as occupying power [&] issue clear & unambiguous orders to security forces to ensure the protection of the Palestinian population against settler violence, & to hold to account those who fail to comply with such orders. It is Israel’s duty."
"Continued, widespread impunity for such violations is unacceptable, dangerous, & in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international human rights law."
Crucially, HCHR calls the world's attention to the repeated use of "dehumanizing language, in particular by political & military leaders in Israel as well as by Hamas"; Israel must stop hate speech & incitement, which provides evidence of intent to commit war crimes:
"Some of the statements coming out from high-level officials are not only abhorrent, they can amount to incitement to hatred & violence...contribute to evidence of intent to conduct" war crimes."
Calls for investigations "to end this cycle of violence & vengeance against entire communities"
Where govts are unwilling or unable to do so, "needs to be independent, international investigation"
Urges UN member states to press for a cease fire.
"Member States with influence need to work harder than ever to bring the parties to a ceasefire, without further delay."
UN High Commissioner on Human Rights is the world's top voice on #IHRL.
Far from heeding his warning yesterday, today #Israel responded by increasing its bombing of hospitals.
Half of #Gaza's hospitals are shut down due to Israel's siege & air attack. All 13 hospitals still caring for people have been told by Israel to evacuate because Israel is going to bomb them next. Israel has already killed 198 medical staff, 16 on duty.
"The reported fatalities since 7 October include at least 192 medical staff, according to MoH Gaza. Of them, at least 16 were on duty when killed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
"The fatalities further include 101 UNRWA staff; this is the highest number of UN personnel killed in a conflict in the history of the organization."
There are articles from WaPo and other US outlets that have a paywall so I'm sharing this publication.
"Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has warned Hezbollah, saying they were dragging Lebanon to a probable war, and 'Israel can do everything it has done in Gaza to Beirut.'"
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