U.N. Human Rights Spokesperson Calls Israeli Attack Near Palestinian Aid Hub "Unconscionable"

TIME

A spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office condemned the ongoing violence near humanitarian aid sites in Gaza, calling the deadly attacks “unconscionable.”

Transcript

00:00Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in

00:06Gaza are unconscionable.

00:10For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the

00:16Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

00:20This morning, we received information that dozens more people were killed and injured.

00:27There must be a prompt and impartial investigation into each of these attacks and those responsible

00:35held to account.

00:38Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law and a war

00:48crime.

00:49Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices, die from starvation or risk

00:56being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through

01:02Israel's militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism.

01:08This militarised system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution,

01:17as the United Nations has repeatedly warned.

01:21The willful impediment of access to food and other life-sustaining relief supplies for

01:26civilians may constitute a war crime.

01:31The threat of starvation, together with 20 months of killing of civilians and destruction

01:39on a massive scale, repeated force displacements, intolerable dehumanising rhetoric and threats

01:48by Israel's leadership to empty the strip of its population, also constitute elements of the

01:57most serious crimes under international law.

02:02In 2024, the International Court of Justice found that there was a real and imminent risk of irreparable

02:09prejudice to the rights of Palestinians in Gaza under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment

02:17of the Crime of Genocide.

02:20The Court issued binding orders on Israel to take all necessary and effective measures to ensure,

02:27without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale,

02:36by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food,

02:45water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies,

02:56and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza.

03:02There is no justification for failing to comply with these obligations.

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