Buildings destroyed in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Photo courtesy: AFP
UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Thursday (October 17, 2024) warned Israel that any “large-scale forced transfer” of civilians from conflict-torn northern Gaza could constitute a war crime if not carried out on a “compulsory military basis”. Went.
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“Israel’s withdrawal orders appear to be designed to completely cut off northern Gaza from the rest of the territory,” Mr Turki told a news conference at UN headquarters in New York.
“As bombings and other attacks continue, there are serious concerns about large-scale forced transfers of civilians that do not meet international law requirements for evacuation on a mandatory military basis,” he said.
“The forced transfer of a large part of the population of northern Gaza would amount to a war crime.”
Israel is waging its own offensive against Hamas in Gaza in the wake of the attack by the Palestinian militant group on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli data.
Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, most of them civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the UN considers credible.
The Israeli military has stepped up operations in northern Gaza over the past 10 days or so, where hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in fighting and where humanitarian aid has been difficult to deliver.
“I call on Israel to immediately facilitate the massive flow of much-needed humanitarian aid to all parts of Gaza,” Mr Turki said.
15 died
At least 15 people, including five children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced people in northern Gaza on Thursday, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The Israeli military said the attack targeted dozens of Hamas militants who had gathered at the school. The attack targeted the Abu Hussein School in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza.
published – October 18, 2024 10:55 am IST