U.N/ Human Rights leader wants ‘reckoning’ for alleged war crimes
Nov. 9 (UPI) - The United Nations Human Rights Office says Hamas and Israeli forces should face a "reckoning" for war crimes committed since Oct. 7, 2023.
The HRC report says 70% of the verified casualties in Gaza through April were women and children.
The U.N. Human Rights Office on Friday published a 32-page report assessing potential war crimes and human rights violations by Israel, Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups in Gaza and during the war on Israeli civilians.
"It is essential that there is a due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law," U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said.
"The rules of war, in force now for 160 years, were designed to limit and prevent human suffering in times of armed conflict," Turk added. "Their wanton disregard has led to the current extremes of human suffering, which we continue to see today."
The report urged an "immediate cease-fire."
Israel's diplomatic mission to the U.N. in Geneva criticized the report , writing: "Once again, OHCHR fails to accurately reflect the realities on the ground, and disregards the extensive role of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in deliberately causing civilian harm in Gaza."
Turk said the international community is obligated to support the International Criminal Court and efforts to hold respective parties accountable for alleged violations of international law during the war between Hamas and Israel.
The U.N. report accuses Israel of violating international law by requiring the "Gaza's entire destruction and the exodus of the Palestinian people."
The deaths of women and children "demonstrates an apparent indifference to the death of civilians," the report says.
The report acknowledges Israel has issued evacuation warnings before engaging Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups in targeted areas but says those warnings amount to a forcible transfer of civilians to other locations in violation of international law.
"Civilians have borne the brunt of attacks, including through the initial 'complete siege' of Gaza by Israeli forces," according to the U.N Human Rights Office.
The U.N. report says Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups used civilians as shields, writing they "intentionally co-located military objectives and civilians with the specific intent of trying to prevent the targeting of those military objective, exposing civilians to high risks of harm and damage from the hostilities."
The U.N. agency said of verified 8,119 people killed in Gaza from November 2023 to April 2024, 80% were killed in residential buildings or similar housing. That included 44% children and 26% women.
OHCHR had verified 200 families that lost between five and nine family members, 172 lost between 10 and 19 members, 69 lost between 20 and 29 family members and 43 lost more than 30 members.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has reported a death toll of more than 43,300 people over the past 13 months. As of April, Israel Defense Forces identified 75 targeted Palestinians killed.
The report noted more than 1,124 were killed in the attacks on Israel, including 295 military personnel, and 4,834 injured. Also more 250 civilian hostages were seized, which "is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime," the report read.
"The accounts of hostages released described extremely harsh conditions of captivity, including a lack of food, water and poor sanitary conditions, and a lack of fresh air and sunlight," according to the report.
In addition, "there are also serious accounts of members of Palestinian armed groups and other armed and unarmed Palestinians committing rape, sexual assault and torture," the U.N. report says.
"Projectiles that are inherently indiscriminate continued to be launched towards and into Israel by Palestinian armed groups," according to the report.
The report also noted "severe restrictions imposed by Israel on the entry and distribution of goods and services necessary for the survival of the civilian population brought the risk of famine and starvation to Gaza."
At the beginning of April 2024, over 1.1 million people in the Gaza Strip were facing an extreme level of food insecurity. The report noted starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited by international humanitarian law. And hospitals were attacked.
"The IDF has made allegations that 'Hamas terrorists' were operating inside some hospitals, which has not been independently verified," the report read.
And 1.7 million people, which is 75% of Gaza's population, had been displaced through April "to cramped, overcrowded shelters without access to basic necessities." At least 17,000 children were reportedly unaccompanied or separated from their families in Gaza, the report said.
