<\/p>\n
13 October 2023<\/p>\n
A UN expert today demanded that Israel immediately rescind its order for 1.1 million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza within 24 hours, condemning the evacuation order as a crime against humanity and a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n
\u201cForcible population transfers constitute a crime against humanity, and collective punishment is prohibited under international humanitarian law,\u201d said Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are horrified at the prospect of an additional 1 million Palestinians joining the over 423,000 people already forcibly driven from their homes by the violence over the past week,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is inconceivable that more than half of Gaza\u2019s population could traverse an active war zone, without devastating humanitarian consequences, particularly while deprived of essential supplies and basic services,\u201d said Gaviria Betancur.<\/p>\n
Shortly before midnight, the Israeli military informed the United Nations that the entire population of Gaza, north of Wadi Gaza, should relocate to southern Gaza within 24 hours, including UN staff and those sheltered in UN facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe humanitarian system in Gaza is already at breaking point. Gaza\u2019s infrastructure has been devastated by indiscriminate bombardments from air, land and sea, and those currently displaced have nowhere to go,\u201d the expert said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTripling the displaced population overnight will decimate and permanently alter the civilian population of Gaza,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n
The Special Rapporteur said that humanitarian actors in Gaza were facing an overwhelming rise in needs against a backdrop of attacks on healthcare facilities and health workers, threats against humanitarian workers, and a draconian siege that has cut off access to water, fuel, medicine, electricity, communications, and essential humanitarian supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than two-thirds of internally displaced persons are sheltering in UNRWA schools which are not fit for this purpose, and have themselves been bombarded. Over 1,400 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,000 have been injured since 7 October, leaving hospitals overwhelmed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there is no conceivable way for hospitals to evacuate the most serious cases, the WHO has called the evacuation order an effective \u2018death sentence\u2019 for the sick,\u201d added Gaviria Betancur added.<\/p>\n
Recalling the earlier statement from a group of UN experts, she urged Israel to adhere to international law.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to remind Israel that observance of international law is compulsory, not optional, during any conflict,\u201d the expert said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo that end, I call for the strict respect of international humanitarian law and its provisions, including unrestricted humanitarian access to those in need, the cessation of indiscriminate attacks against civilians, and an end to forced displacement of populations and blockade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur is the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
13 October 2023 A UN expert today demanded that Israel immediately rescind its order for 1.1 million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza within 24 hours, condemning the evacuation order as a crime against humanity and a blatant violation of international humanitarian law. \u201cForcible population transfers constitute a crime against humanity, and collective punishment is […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":285,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[6726],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,2005,2613],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-289615","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-human-rights-of-internally-displaced-persons","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-internally-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/289615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/285"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/289615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304823,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/289615\/revisions\/304823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=289615"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=289615"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=289615"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=289615"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=289615"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=289615"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=289615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}