February 22, 2024
Palestinian child gestures as crying amid Palestinian children wait in line to receive food prepared by volunteers for Palestinian families ,displaced to Southern Gaza due to Israeli attacks, between rubbles of destroyed buildings in Rafah, Gaza on February 10, 2024. [Belal Khaled – Anadolu Agency ]
The head of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that medical teams in the Gaza Strip have come up with a new acronym: WCNSF – wounded child, no surviving family, Reuters reports.
“Children who do survive this war will not only bear the visible wounds of traumatic injuries, but the invisible ones, too,” MSF International Secretary-General, Christopher Lockyear, told the 15-member Council.
“There is a repeated displacement, constant fear and witnessing family members literally dismembered before their eyes,” he said. “These psychological injuries have led children as young as five to tell us that they would prefer to die.”
Lockyear slammed the United States, saying he was appalled it had repeatedly used its veto power to block the Council from demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian group, Hamas, in Gaza.
“The people of Gaza need a ceasefire, not when practicable, but now. They need a sustained ceasefire, not a temporary period of calm,” Lockyear said. “Anything short of this is gross negligence.”
Suffering and survivor’s guilt: Doctor back from Gaza narrates Nasser Hospital ordeal
The US has vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions since the start of the current fighting on 7 October, most recently blocking, on Tuesday, a demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire as it, instead, pushes Council to call for a temporary ceasefire linked to the release of hostages held by Hamas.
China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun told the Council he felt “appalled” by Lockyear’s briefing.
“We hope the tragic picture that he painted of Gaza for us can touch the conscience of a certain member of this Council,” Zhang said.
‘What are you willing to risk?
The United States had said it was concerned that the draft resolution it vetoed on Tuesday could jeopardise talks between the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar that seek to broker a six week pause in the war and the release of hostages.
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, did not acknowledge Lockyear’s briefing. He said the US was pushing Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and had told its ally it should not proceed with a ground offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza “in the absence of a viable plan to protect civilians”.
“We all want to see a durable end to this conflict,” Wood said. “The pace of hostage talks can be frustrating … Council support for this diplomacy is critical to increase pressure on Hamas to accept the agreement on the table.”
Britain’s UN Ambassador, Barbara Woodward, described Lockyear’s briefing as “harrowing”. Britain abstained on Tuesday’s vote, while the remaining 13 Council members voted in favour of the Algerian-drafted resolution.
Israel’s bombs are leaving Gaza’s children with life-changing injuries
– Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]
Slovenia’s UN Ambassador to the Security Council, Samuel Zbogar, asked: “What kind of a Council have we become if we remain untouched by the tearful briefing that we heard today by the Secretary-General of Médecins Sans Frontières?”
The war began when fighters from the Hamas group attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. In retaliation, Israel launched a military assault on Gaza that health authorities say has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians with thousands more bodies feared lost amid the ruins.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
“Today our staff is back at work risking their lives, once again, for their patients. What are you willing to risk?” Lockyear asked the Council.
READ: Palestinians describe terrifying and chaotic flight from Gaza hospital
The war began when fighters from the Hamas group attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. In retaliation, Israel launched a military assault on Gaza that health authorities say has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians with thousands more bodies feared lost amid the ruins.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
“Today our staff is back at work risking their lives, once again, for their patients. What are you willing to risk?” Lockyear asked the Council.
READ: Palestinians describe terrifying and chaotic flight from Gaza hospital
UN condemns ‘gross human rights violations’ in Palestinian territories
Palestinian boys inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
Yemenis lift placards and wave Palestinian flags as they march in the Houthi-run capital Sanaa, yesterday, in support of Palestinians amid ongoing conflict.
People mourn relatives killed in overnight Israeli bombardment, outside the Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
The UN said yesterday gross human rights violations, possibly including war crimes, had been committed in Israel and the Palestinian territories since the start of the war in Gaza.
In its annual report, covering the 12 months to October 31, 2023, the UN Human Rights Office said clear violations of international humanitarian law, “including possible war crimes, have been committed by all parties” since October first week.
“The entrenched impunity reported by our office for decades cannot be permitted to continue,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
“There must be accountability on all sides for violations seen over 56 years of (Israeli) occupation and the 16 years of blockade of Gaza.” “Justice is a pre-requisite for ending cycles of violence and for Palestinians and Israelis to be able to take meaningful steps towards peace.”
The report cited unlawful killings, hostage-taking, the wanton destruction of civilian property, collective punishment, strikes on civilian infrastructure, forced displacement, incitement to hatred and violence and torture.
The war in Gaza began after the Hamas group that controls the Palestinian territory stormed Israel in the first week of October.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza have killed at least 29,514 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. In less than five months, much of Gaza has been flattened and its population of around 2.4mn has been pushed to the brink of famine, the UN has said.
WAR CRIMES
Israel’s response has led to “massive suffering of Palestinians, including through the killing of civilians on a broad scale, extensive repeated displacement, destruction of homes, and the denial of sufficient food and other essentials of life”, it said.
“The blockade and siege imposed on Gaza amount to collective punishment and may also amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which are war crimes.” The report identified three “emblematic” Israeli strikes — two on the Jabalia refugee camp and one in Gaza City — which caused enormous destruction.
NISHIN
PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 24, 2024 |
Palestinian boys inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
Yemenis lift placards and wave Palestinian flags as they march in the Houthi-run capital Sanaa, yesterday, in support of Palestinians amid ongoing conflict.
People mourn relatives killed in overnight Israeli bombardment, outside the Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
The UN said yesterday gross human rights violations, possibly including war crimes, had been committed in Israel and the Palestinian territories since the start of the war in Gaza.
In its annual report, covering the 12 months to October 31, 2023, the UN Human Rights Office said clear violations of international humanitarian law, “including possible war crimes, have been committed by all parties” since October first week.
“The entrenched impunity reported by our office for decades cannot be permitted to continue,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
“There must be accountability on all sides for violations seen over 56 years of (Israeli) occupation and the 16 years of blockade of Gaza.” “Justice is a pre-requisite for ending cycles of violence and for Palestinians and Israelis to be able to take meaningful steps towards peace.”
The report cited unlawful killings, hostage-taking, the wanton destruction of civilian property, collective punishment, strikes on civilian infrastructure, forced displacement, incitement to hatred and violence and torture.
The war in Gaza began after the Hamas group that controls the Palestinian territory stormed Israel in the first week of October.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza have killed at least 29,514 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. In less than five months, much of Gaza has been flattened and its population of around 2.4mn has been pushed to the brink of famine, the UN has said.
WAR CRIMES
Israel’s response has led to “massive suffering of Palestinians, including through the killing of civilians on a broad scale, extensive repeated displacement, destruction of homes, and the denial of sufficient food and other essentials of life”, it said.
“The blockade and siege imposed on Gaza amount to collective punishment and may also amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which are war crimes.” The report identified three “emblematic” Israeli strikes — two on the Jabalia refugee camp and one in Gaza City — which caused enormous destruction.
“Launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in death or injury to civilians, or an attack in the knowledge that it will cause excessive incidental civilian loss, injury or damage, are war crimes,” said Turk.
NISHIN
PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 24, 2024 |
No comments:
Post a Comment