OHCHR / TURK GAZA CEASEFIRE

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said that he fears for the rapidly increasing number of civilians in Gaza increasingly corralled towards the border with Egypt, as hostilities continue to escalate. OHCHR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:18
• Production Date: 19 December 2023
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - OHCHR
• Subject Topical: CEASEFIRES; HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: GAZA
• MAMS Id: 3158894
• Parent Id: 3158894
• Alternate Title: unifeed231219e

Description

STORY: OHCHR / TURK GAZA CEASEFIRE
TRT: 02:18
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 19 DECEMBER 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – GENEGA, SWITZERLAND

1.Various shots, exterior, Palais Wilson, Geneva

19 DECEMBER 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, High Commissioner for UN Human Rights:

“I am extremely concerned about the rapidly increasing number of civilians who are being pushed towards the border with Egypt, as hostilities continue to escalate in Gaza. As those in Gaza endure such immense suffering, despair and heartbreak grow more intense across the world. Calls for a ceasefire – on human rights and humanitarian grounds – are getting louder by the day and must be heeded. Rafah has become the epicenter of displacement with over one million people - almost half of the population - concentrated in extremely overcrowded and unbearable living conditions, exacerbated by the onset of winter. Palestinians are being forced into smaller and smaller areas, in a mass displacement up to the Gaza-Egyptian border while military operations continue to encroach ever closer. There is simply nowhere left in Gaza for them to go. Strikes on civilian infrastructure that serve as shelters, such as hospitals, schools and religious facilities, continue to be reported, causing deaths and injuries and forcing other Internally Displaced People to move yet again. My Office has also documented allegations of arbitrary detention, torture and unlawful killings, including at schools and hospitals in Northern Gaza and Gaza City during operations conducted by Israeli forces. Allegations of breaches of the laws of war must be investigated immediately and fully . Those responsible for such acts must be held to account, and justice served. The international community has clearly expressed its opinion: the fighting must stop. The remaining hostages must also be released, as must those arbitrarily detained by Israeli forces. And the parties to the conflict -- along with those States with influence – must work to support a credible political process that will lead to the agreed two-State solution.”

FILE – GENEGA, SWITZERLAND

3. Wide shot, exterior, Palais Wilson, Geneva

Storyline

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said today (19 Dec) that he fears for the rapidly increasing number of civilians in Gaza increasingly corralled towards the border with Egypt, as hostilities continue to escalate, including wave after wave of Israeli airstrikes, naval shelling, tank fire and sniper attacks, as well as the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel.

Türk said, “As those in Gaza endure such immense suffering, despair and heartbreak grow more intense across the world. Calls for a ceasefire – on human rights and humanitarian grounds – are getting louder by the day and must be heeded.”

He continued, “Rafah has become the epicenter of displacement with over one million people - almost half of the population - concentrated in extremely overcrowded and unbearable living conditions, exacerbated by the onset of winter. Palestinians are being forced into smaller and smaller areas, in a mass displacement up to the Gaza-Egyptian border while military operations continue to encroach ever closer.

“There is simply nowhere left in Gaza for them to go,” the human rights chief reiterated.

He said, “Strikes on civilian infrastructure that serve as shelters, such as hospitals, schools and religious facilities, continue to be reported, causing deaths and injuries and forcing other Internally Displaced People to move yet again.”

“My Office has also documented allegations of arbitrary detention, torture and unlawful killings, including at schools and hospitals in Northern Gaza and Gaza City during operations conducted by Israeli forces,” Türk added.

He also said, “Allegations of breaches of the laws of war must be immediately and fully investigated. Those responsible for such acts must be held to account, and justice served.”

“The international community has clearly expressed its opinion: the fighting must stop. The remaining hostages must also be released, as must those arbitrarily detained by Israeli forces,” the human rights chief said.

He concluded, “the parties to the conflict -- along with those States with influence – must work to support a credible political process that will lead to the agreed two-State solution.”