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The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has accused Israel of committing war crimes because of the siege and blockade of the Gaza Strip, DPA reported.
“Collective punishment is a war crime. Israel’s collective punishment against the entire population of Gaza must stop immediately,” UN agency spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva today.
Meanwhile, the UN office said the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas committed war crimes and atrocities, including abducting civilians from Israel, in its deadly October 7 attack. Shamdasani demanded that Palestinian groups stop their “indiscriminate attacks” on Israel.
More than 200 people, many of them civilians, are believed to be still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has declared a “total blockade” of Gaza, cutting off supplies of water, food, electricity and fuel to the enclave.
“We are currently witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe for the 2.2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza who are subject to collective punishment,” Shamdasani said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has criticized debates over the accuracy of casualty figures reported by the Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip.
On the one hand, the WHO for years has had no reason to doubt the figures provided by the health authorities in Gaza, Richard Pepperkorn, the organization’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, said today from Jerusalem. On the other hand, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic, and the number of people killed by Israeli strikes is huge, regardless of whether the victims are a thousand more or less, he noted.
Peppercorn said 23 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals remain at least partially open, although doctors in some hospitals now have to operate on the floor. However, he said the situation was worsening given Israel’s almost total blockade of the enclave and massive airstrikes.
About 94,000 liters of fuel are needed each day just to run the generators in Gaza’s 12 most important hospitals to provide minimal aid for life-threatening illnesses and wounds, Piperkorn said.
Two-thirds of the 72 smaller health facilities have closed, he said.
The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture – UNESCO – in turn called for the protection of schools from shelling during the war in Gaza, BTA reported.
Schools in Gaza also serve as a refuge for the population and the shelling of their buildings is contrary to international law, UNESCO said today in Paris.
More than 200 schools in the Gaza Strip, or more than 40 percent of all schools there, have been damaged in Israeli strikes since the October 7 attack on Israel by the Islamist group Hamas, UNESCO said.
There are 625,000 students and over 22,500 teachers in Gaza who are now in an extremely vulnerable situation, the organization said.
In line with its mandate, UNESCO reminded all parties to the conflict of their obligation to respect international humanitarian law.
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2023-10-27 19:15:00
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