The UN Secretary-General has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as the UN human rights chief described the escalation of Israeli attacks as “tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” with local health authorities reporting 146 Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday urged an immediate end to hostilities after Israel announced the early stages of an intensified operation in the Palestinian territory.
“We need a permanent ceasefire, now,” Guterres told leaders gathered in Baghdad for an Arab League summit. “I am alarmed by reported plans by Israel to expand ground operations and more”.
His comments came as Gaza health authorities reported that 146 Palestinians have been killed and 459 injured in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours, according to Reuters.
In a separate statement on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said: “This latest barrage of bombs… and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.
Türk expressed concern that this week’s intensification signals the potential start of an even wider Israeli offensive and urged all parties, including countries with direct influence, to stop the assault. “We must stop the clock on this madness,” he said.
On May 13, the Israeli military struck two of the largest hospitals in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospital, with the latter now out of service, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Addressing these attacks, Türk emphasised: “Hospitals are protected at all times – and are even more indispensable during war. The killing of patients or of people visiting their wounded or sick loved ones, or of emergency workers or other civilians just seeking shelter, is as tragic as it is abhorrent. These attacks must cease”.
He added that even if Israel was targeting Hamas command centres underground as claimed, and even if destroying these structures offered a definite military advantage, international law requires ensuring civilian lives are spared, “and that’s clearly not the case”.
“The laws of war, built on the Geneva conventions, are sacrosanct, as are the rules requiring all states, without exceptions to protect human rights, including the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide,” Türk stated. “All actors are bound to strictly respect these rules. Those who do not must be held to account”.
The war began with Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw over 250 taken hostage. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, Israel’s military campaign has killed over 52,000 people in Gaza.
Most of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has been displaced, many multiple times. An estimated 70% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, with healthcare, water and sanitation systems collapsing amid shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
(with information from The Guardian)
