Cairo – Together – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said that he saw from the Rafah crossing the gates leading to “the ongoing nightmare in which people suffocate under continuous bombardment.”
Turk said in a press conference held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, after his visit to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, that people in Gaza are crying over the loss of their families, and are struggling in search of water, food, electricity, and fuel, noting that his colleagues in the United Nations Human Rights Office are among those besieged and those Those who lost family members “suffer sleepless nights filled with torment, anger and despair.”
He added that the Rafah crossing was a lifeline for about 2.3 million people in Gaza during the past month, adding that this lifeline was unfairly weak and infuriating.
He called for a ceasefire, delivering humanitarian needs at significant levels to all parts of the Gaza Strip, and enabling the political space to achieve a permanent end to the occupation, based on the rights of Palestinians and Israelis to self-determination.
Turk said: “It is no longer enough to just say that the occupation that has been going on for 56 years must end. The international community must be part of creating a just and equitable future for Palestinians and Israelis. They are each other’s only hope for achieving peace.”
The High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke about his visit to Al-Arish Hospital in North Sinai, where he met citizen Ikram, who was eight months pregnant when she was hit by shrapnel in her stomach. She lost her fetus and had to undergo a hysterectomy. “She is still alive, but her eyes were lifeless.”
He also met the child Muhammad, 12 years old, from Jabalia, who suffers from spinal injuries and broken bones. He said, “Muhammad arrived in Rafah unaccompanied, and says he does not remember what happened, but the shock was clear on his face.”
He added: “We have fallen into the abyss. This situation cannot continue. Even in the context of a 56-year occupation, the current situation is the most dangerous in decades.”
Turk indicated that during his visit he heard many concerns about double standards in dealing with this conflict, adding that the world cannot bear the cost of double standards.
He stressed the need to emphasize the global standards on the basis of which the situation must be evaluated, which are human rights law and international humanitarian law.
He pointed out that he described Gaza before October 7 as the largest open prison in the world, under 56 years of occupation and 16 years of Israeli siege.
He added, “The collective punishment imposed by Israel on Palestinian civilians also amounts to a war crime, as does the illegal forced eviction of civilians. The intense bombing has led to the killing, wounding and maiming of women and children in particular.”
He pointed out that the latest death toll in the Gaza Strip reached more than 10,500 martyrs, including 4,300 children and 2,800 women, saying, “All of this has an unbearable impact on civilians.”
He stressed the need to commit to neutralizing the civilian population and civilian facilities, and to adhere to international humanitarian law, stressing that attacks against medical facilities, medical personnel, the wounded and the sick are prohibited.
He stressed that “Israel’s obligations as an occupying power remain in full force. This requires it to ensure that the greatest possible amount of life’s necessities reaches everyone who needs them. People still need help in all parts of Gaza. There is an urgent humanitarian need to reach a population whose isolation is deepening.” , including in the northern and central areas of the Strip, who are cut off from the very limited aid entering Gaza.”
“In the past few days, my colleagues have received reports of an orphanage in northern Gaza containing 300 children in need of urgent assistance,” he said. “With communications cut off, roads impassable and unsafe, we are unable to reach these orphans.”
He added: “During the past month, Gaza witnessed at least three complete communications outages, which led to the isolation of Palestinians there from their families inside the Strip and from the outside world. The power outages have dire consequences for rescue workers who are struggling to find and rescue victims of the bombing. This is in addition to “It has consequences on families trying to find out the condition of their loved ones and access emergency health care, and on the process of monitoring and documenting the situation on the ground.”
He continued: “As for journalists who try to document and cover the events in Gaza, they pay the price with their lives. At least 32 Palestinian journalists were killed in the Gaza Strip last month.”
Source: Maan News Agency