GENEVA – The United Nations human rights chief said on Thursday outbreaks of disease and hunger seemed “inevitable” in Gaza after weeks of Israeli assault on the densely populated Palestinian enclave.
Speaking at an informal briefing to states at the United Nations in Geneva after visiting the Middle East, Volker Turk said the depletion of fuel would be “catastrophic” across Gaza, leading to the collapse of sewage systems, healthcare and ending the scarce humanitarian aid being supplied.
“Massive outbreaks of infectious disease, and hunger, seem inevitable,” Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.
The World Health Organization has warned of “worrying trends” in disease spread in Gaza, saying there had been an unusually large number of cases of diarrheal disease in the enclave, where bombardments and a ground operation have disrupted the health system and access to clean water, and caused people to crowd into shelters.
Turk, who described the bombardment by Israel as “of an intensity rarely experienced in this century,” also expressed concern about increasing violence and discrimination against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
“In my view, this creates a potentially explosive situation, and I want to be clear: we are well beyond the level of early warning,” Turk said.
“I am ringing the loudest possible alarm bell about the occupied West Bank.”
Israel’s military focus on Thursday remained on Gaza’s biggest hospital Al Shifa where it says Hamas stored weapons and ran a command center in tunnels beneath the buildings.
Israeli troops forced their way into Al Shifa hospital in the early hours of Wednesday and spent the day deepening their search, the army said. An army video showed automatic weapons, grenades, ammunition and flak jackets it said were recovered from an undisclosed building within the complex.
“The troops continue to search the hospital in a precise, intelligence-based, manner,” army spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a press briefing late on Wednesday.
US President Joe Biden said that Hamas was committing war crimes by having its military headquarters under the hospital. He said Israel had gone into Al Shifa with a limited number of troops with guns.
The Israeli military made no mention of finding any tunnel entrances in Al Shifa. It previously said Hamas had built a network of tunnels under the hospital. Hamas has denied it and dismissed the latest army statements.
“The occupation forces are still lying … as they brought some weapons, clothes and tools and placed them in the hospital in a scandalous manner,” Qatar-based Hamas senior member Ezzat El Rashq said. “We have repeatedly called for a committee from the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Red Cross to verify the lies of the occupation.”
Israeli forces raided the Shifa complex on Wednesday evening “for the second time in 24 hours” WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, reported. Bulldozers and military vehicles were used, the agency said, citing local sources.
Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency reported early on Thursday that Israeli tanks raided Al Shifa from the complex’s southern side and that gunfire was heard in the area. — Reuters
