The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights asked on Thursday for a international research following “extremely serious accusations” of violations of international law in the war between Israel and the movement Palestinian Islamist Hamas.
“The extremely serious accusations of multiple and serious violations of international humanitarian law, whoever the perpetrators, demand a rigorous investigation and the clarification of responsibilities,” he declared. Volker Turk in an information session to the member countries of the UN in Geneva.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Meirav Eilon Shahareacted by stating that international law is not a “suicide pact” that allows “terrorist organizations (…) to benefit from constant international support.”
His Palestinian counterpart, Ibrahim Khraishi, He called for the international community to “wake up” to what he describes as “massacre” and “genocide.”
Türk He added that in light of events, an international investigation is necessary.
“Where national authorities are unwilling or unable to carry out such investigations, and where there are conflicting narratives about certain significant events, an international investigation is needed,” he emphasized.
The UN official said this after a visit to middle East last week.
Türk He was unable to enter Israel or the Palestinian territories, despite having requested authorization.
The Israeli mission in Geneva told AFP that it did not see what “benefit the High Commissioner’s visit at this time” could bring to Israel.
On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel in which some 1,200 people and another 240 were kidnappedaccording to Israeli authorities.
In response, Israel vowed to “annihilate” the Islamist movement, bombing daily Gaza Strip. More than 11,500 Palestinians have been killed in those attacks, according to Hamas’ Health Ministry.
Türk stressed that the war goes beyond Gaza, and was concerned about the “intensification of violence and discrimination against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem,” the Palestinian-majority part of the holy city.
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“In my opinion, this creates a potentially explosive situation, and I want to be clear: we are well beyond the initial alert level. I want to sound the loudest possible alarm about the situation in the occupied West Bank,” he said.