UN calls on Israel to prevent genocide in Palestine

The Gaza Strip after the bombing of Israel. Photo: bloknot.ru

On October 19, 2023, a group of UN experts expressed outrage at the deadly attack on the Arab Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, in which more than 470 civilians were killed, with hundreds trapped under the rubble.

In their statement published on the ohchr.org website, the experts described the strike on Al-Ahli Hospital as an atrocity.

They also condemned a deadly attack on the UNRWA school located in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp and two densely populated refugee camps on the same day.

The experts expressed serious concern about Israel's intensified 16-year siege of the enclave, which has led to a prolonged occupation, depriving 2.2 million people of essential food, fuel, water, electricity, and medicine.

According to their estimates, around 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza are in desperate need of prenatal and postnatal care. The number of internally displaced persons in the Gaza Strip is approximately one million.

The experts reminded that the UN Security Council has repeatedly condemned the use of hunger as a method of war against civilians, which is prohibited by international humanitarian and criminal law.

"Denying humanitarian access and depriving civilians of the items necessary for their survival are also violations of international humanitarian law," warned the experts.

The complete blockade of Gaza, combined with unworkable evacuation orders and the forced displacement of the population, is a violation of international humanitarian and criminal law and is inhumane, according to the experts.

They believe that the deliberate and systematic destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, as well as the denial of access to drinking water, medicines, and essential food, are unequivocally prohibited by international criminal law.

The experts raised an alarm, stating that Israel continues a campaign leading to crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. Given statements by Israeli political leaders and their allies accompanying military actions in Gaza, along with an escalation of arrests and killings in the West Bank, there is also a risk of genocide against the Palestinian people, according to the document.

The experts emphasized that "there are no justifications or exceptions for such crimes." They expressed dismay at the international community's inaction in the face of war-mongering.

They stressed that the Gaza population, half of whom are children, has already endured many decades of unlawful and brutal occupation and has lived under siege for 16 years.

"It is time to immediately cease the firing and ensure urgent, unimpeded access to essential humanitarian supplies, including food, water, shelter, medicine, fuel, and electricity. The physical safety of the civilian population must be guaranteed," the UN experts stated.

"Ending the occupation, providing reparations, restitution, and recovery, and seeking justice for Palestinians must be pursued to achieve full justice," concluded the United Nations experts.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the hierarch of the Jerusalem Patriarchate said that the human hand cannot save the inhabitants of Palestine.

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