“Mass civilian deaths” resulted from the Israeli attacks, the UN rights chief noted, which killed more than 25,500 Palestinians and injured more than 68,800 in a year.
Killed in search of food
A total of 2,435 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army near food collection points Mr. Türk also said that the organization was run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a non-UN organization, between late May and early October, adding that most were young men and boys.
In the West Bank, Israeli security forces continued to “carry out airstrikes and use unlawful force, killing hundreds of Palestinians,” he added.
Since the fragile ceasefire last October More than 600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,600 injured in Gazaaccording to local authorities. “Any other place would see this as a major crisis,” the rights chief said.
Independent human rights expert monitoring the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanesestressed the “catastrophic” situation facing Gazans today.
The Special Rapporteur said families are “surviving in flooded tents, while people continue to die from gunfire, hunger and preventable diseases” despite the ceasefire.
Ms Albanese – who does not work for the UN and reports to the UN Council for Human Rights – spoke in Geneva alongside other independent experts, who condemned repeated attempts to undermine their work for the Council Mandates for “Special Procedures”..
Attacks on independent experts ‘beyond borders’
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, rejected calls for Ms Albanese to resign, along with “personal revenge” against independent experts, following the publication of an online video that misrepresented her comments about Israel.
Mrs. Albanese was sanctioned by the United States last July for alleged “gross infringement” of national sovereignty, together with judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as of February last year.
Mr Bennett said that all states featured in reports and statements of Special procedures mandate holders “may strongly disagree and have every right to express those disagreements strongly.
“However, deliberately misrepresenting the statements or positions of mandate holders and attacking them personally is unacceptable. International sanctions are for human rights violators and criminals, not for human rights defenders.”
Special Rapporteurs and other independent human rights experts are not UN staff and are not paid for their work. Human rights are one of the fundamental pillars of all the work of the United Nations, along with peace, security and development.
Watch the full press conference of the five independent experts in Geneva below:
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