The United Nations human rights office denounced on Tuesday possible war crimes of Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in connection with a deadly raid by Israeli troops to free four hostages in Gaza over the weekend.
The office’s spokesman, Jeremy Laurence, expressed concern about the possible violation of the rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution by Israeli troops in their operation on Saturday in the Nuseirat urban refugee camp.
Palestinian health authorities said that At least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, died in the operation.
According to Laurence, Palestinian armed groups holding hostages in densely populated areas are putting “added risk” on the lives of nearby civilians and those held captive by hostilities.
“All of these actions by both sides may constitute war crimes,” he added during a routine UN news conference in Geneva.
Trapped civilians
“The way it was carried out was catastrophic as civilians, once again, were caught in the middle of it all,” Laurence added, referring to both the Israeli military operation and the more than eight months of war. which began after the incursion of Palestinian insurgents into southern Israel on October 7.
Alluding to the “ordeal” of the hostages captured then – in total about 250, of which more than 120 remain in the hands of Palestinian extremists – and their families, he said: “The fact that four hostages are now free is clearly an very good news. Those hostages should never have been taken. It is a violation of international law. They must be released. All. Soon”.
Israel launched its air and ground campaign on Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack, in which insurgents swept into Israeli territory and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 more hostage.
The war in the besieged Palestinian enclave has claimed the lives of more than 36,700 people, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties in its count.
Palestinians face a widespread humanitarian crisis because the conflict has almost completely cut off the entry of food, medicine and other supplies to the Strip. UN agencies warn that more than a million people could suffer the highest level of starvation from mid-July.
Stop the “horror”
While the UN talks about possible war crimes, the secretary general of the international organization, António Guterres, asked this Tuesday in Jordan for the opening of all “possible” routes for the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, where the “horror” must stop immediately and where the work of the United Nations and its officials must be protected.
Guterres expressed this during his inaugural speech at the International Emergency Response Conference for Gaza, which is being held in the Dead Sea region of Jordan and where seeks to establish an urgent plan for the humanitarian response in the Palestinian territory under attack by Israel.
In his presentation, the UN Secretary General expressed his support for the plan for a truce and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas presented by US President Joe Biden, and called on all parties to seize “the opportunity and reach an agreement”.
“The horror must stop. It is time for a ceasefire in parallel with an unconditional release of the hostages. I call on all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, and that includes the delivery of aid both to and within Gaza,” Guterres said.
In that sense, he indicated that “all routes to Gaza” must be operational and the use of “land routes is crucial.”
Since the beginning of the conflict, eight months ago, Israel has blocked aid access to Gaza and it has only entered through the Rafah crossing, bordering Egypt and now closed, or through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
At the end of his speech, Guterres recalled that ultimately, the solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “political” and pointed out that the only way is to make way for a “sustainable peace, based on the two States, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security.”
