The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has published Message, detailing the horrific reality that has unfolded for the people of Israel and Gaza since 7 October 2023, and said that justice must be done regarding the grave violations of international law that have taken place. Approximately 70 % casualties in Gaza since 7 October 2023 are women and children.
Highlighting the grave humanitarian crisis underway in Gaza and other areas, OHCHR's report confirms that as of 2 September 2024, it has verified the identities of 8,119 Palestinians killed in Gaza, including 2,036 women and 3,588 children, which together represent approximately 70% of all casualties.
The report condemns the brutal attacks on civilians in Gaza and the serious violations of international law, noting that many of these acts qualify as war crimes.
It stresses that when such acts are part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians linked to state or organisational policies, they may amount to crimes against humanity. The report further warns that if these acts are intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, they may constitute genocide.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stressed that Israel must immediately and fully comply with these commitments. This is even more critical and urgent given the overall actions outlined in the report and in light of recent developments, including Israeli operations in northern Gaza and the passage of legislation affecting the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), he said.
"It is essential that allegations of serious violations of international law are properly dealt with by credible and impartial judicial bodies and that all relevant information and evidence is gathered and preserved in the meantime," He said.
Türk recalled the obligations of states to act to prevent atrocity crimes and called on them to support the work of accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, in the context of the current conflict; to exercise universal jurisdiction to investigate and try crimes under international law in national courts in accordance with international standards; and to comply with requests for the extradition of persons suspected of such crimes to countries where they would receive a fair trial.
The report points to repeated statements by Israeli officials that the end of the conflict is conditional on the complete destruction of Gaza and the withdrawal of the Palestinian population. It also documents efforts to rationalise discrimination, hostility and violence against the Palestinians, and even to eliminate them.
The report shows how civilians are bearing the brunt of the attacks, including as a result of the initial "total siege" of Gaza by Israeli forces, as well as the Israeli government's continued illegal failure to allow, facilitate and secure the entry of humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and repeated mass displacement. These actions by Israeli forces have caused an unprecedented number of killings, deaths, injuries, famine, disease and illness, the reports said. Palestinian armed groups have also conducted hostilities in a manner that has likely contributed to harm to civilians.
The report states that on 7 October 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups also committed serious violations of international law on a wide scale, including attacks targeting Israeli and foreign civilians, killing and mistreating civilians, sexual violence, destruction of civilian objects and hostage-taking. These acts could be considered war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the report. After 7 October, Hamas and other armed groups also celebrated the attacks of that day, which was deeply disturbing and completely unacceptable.
"The rules of war, in force for 160 years, were designed to limit and prevent human suffering in times of armed conflict," Türk said. "Their reckless disregard has led to the current extremes of human suffering we are witnessing today. It seems incomprehensible that parties to a conflict refuse to apply universally accepted and binding norms that were developed to preserve a minimum of humanity."
The UN Human Rights Office verifies the personal details of those killed in Gaza in strikes, shelling and other fighting. So far, it has found that nearly 70 % of these victims are children and women, indicating a systematic violation of basic principles of international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction and proportionality.
The continuation of these attacks, killing all inhabitants equally, "testifies to the apparent indifference to civilian deaths and the impact of the means and methods of warfare chosen", says the report.
The largest number of verified victims are children. Three age categories were most represented: children aged 5 to 9 years, children aged 10 to 14 years, and infants and children aged 0 to 4 years.
Of the verified deaths, approximately 80 % were killed in residential buildings or similar dwellings, of which 44 % were children and 26 % were women.
Monitoring by the United Nations Human Rights Office indicates that the high number of casualties per attack was mainly due to the Israeli Defence Forces' use of blanket weapons in densely populated areas, although some casualties may have resulted from errant projectiles fired by Palestinian armed groups that landed short.
The High Commissioner calls on Member States, in accordance with their obligations under international law, to assess the sale or transfer of arms and the provision of military, logistical or financial support to a party to a conflict with a view to ending such support where there is a risk of a serious violation of international law.
The report also expresses concern about the violent transfers, apparently systematic attacks on hospitals and journalists. It also refers to the alleged use of white phosphorus munitions.
"Our monitoring shows that this unprecedented level of civilian killing and injury is a direct result of the failure to respect the basic principles of international humanitarian law - namely the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution in attack," Türk said. "Tragically, these documented violations continue unabated more than a year after the war began."
"The trends and patterns of violations and applicable international law, as clarified by the International Court of Justice, must inform the steps that must be taken to end the current crisis," said the High Commissioner. "The violence must stop immediately, the hostages and arbitrarily detained must be released, and we must focus on flooding Gaza with humanitarian aid."
PHOTO - Xinhua/Rizek Abdeljawad, Marwan Dawood
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