After thousands of Palestinians fled to the south of the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel's growing onslaught against Hamas, the United Nations human rights chief said that both Hamas and Israel had committed war crimes in the previous month.
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement: "The atrocities perpetrated by Palestinian armed groups on October 7 were heinous, brutal and shocking, they were war crimes - as is the continued holding of hostages," He added, "The collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians amounts also to a war crime, as does the unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians."
Humanitarian Catastrophe
Members of the UN Security Council meeting listen as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk speaks during a meeting on the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the United Nations Headquarters on August 17, 2023 in New York City.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on October 7 that the Hamas militant group had murdered 1,400 Israelis and abducted over 240 more, prompting Israel to declare war on Hamas.
The subsequent Israeli attack on Gaza has created a humanitarian catastrophe, with thousands of people having to leave their homes and significant shortages of essentials, including food, water, fuel, and medicine.
According to CNN, the IDF has established daily evacuation lanes to let residents flee to the southern half of the strip as it escalates its assaults on Hamas in Gaza City and northern Gaza, vowing to hit the terrorists "wherever necessary."
As a result, a significant number of Palestinians have fled south during the last week. Civilians reported intolerable circumstances after making their way on foot for kilometers across the besieged area.
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'Most Dangerous' Situation in Decades
On Wednesday, November 8, Türk called on both sides to agree to a truce so that supplies could be sent to Gaza, hostages could be released by Hamas, and the political space could be created to put an end to the occupation for good.
"The current situation is the most dangerous in decades faced by people in Gaza, in Israel, in the West Bank but also regionally," he stated.
The Israeli military has fought back against claims of war crimes, arguing its attacks on Hamas sites obeyed international law and attempted to minimize civilian fatalities, CNN reported.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said on Wednesday, citing sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave, that Israeli strikes had killed at least 10,515 Palestinians and wounded more than 26,000.
After making a trip to the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border, which is not under Israeli control, Türk made his remarks. Recently, it has been opened so that some help may enter Gaza and so that foreigners and very wounded Palestinians can leave.
"The lifeline has been unjustly, outrageously thin. In Rafah, I have witnessed the gates to a living nightmare. A nightmare where people have been suffocating, under persistent bombardment, mourning their families, struggling for water, for food, for electricity and fuel," Türk said.
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