“We must urgently find our way back to peace”, says High Commissioner Volker Türk as he presents his global update to the 56th session of the Human Rights Council

18 June 2024

(excerpt)

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I am appalled by the disregard for international human rights and humanitarian law by parties to the conflict in Gaza. There has been unconscionable death and suffering. More than 120,000 people in Gaza, overwhelmingly women and children, have been killed or injured since 7 October, as a result of the intensive Israeli offensives. Since Israel escalated its operations into Rafah in early May, almost one million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced yet again, while aid delivery and humanitarian access deteriorated further.

The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating. As of 15 June, 528 Palestinians, 133 of them children, had been killed by Israeli security forces and/or settlers since October, in many cases raising serious concerns of unlawful killings. In the same period, 23 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and Israel in clashes with or attacks by Palestinians, including 8 members of Israeli security forces.

Israel’s relentless strikes in Gaza are causing immense suffering and widespread destruction. The arbitrary denial and obstruction of humanitarian aid have continued, and Israel continues to detain arbitrarily thousands of Palestinians. This must end.

Palestinian armed groups continue to hold many hostages, and, in some cases in densely populated areas, putting them and Palestinian civilians at further risk. These hostages must be released.

The patterns we have documented raise serious concerns about the commission of war crimes and other atrocity crimes.

I call for the binding decisions of the Security Council and of the International Court of Justice to be respected.

The occupation must end, accountability must be served and the internationally agreed two-State solution must become a reality.

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The complete statement is available here.