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STORY: OHCHR / GAZA ISRAEL
TRT: 01:35
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 06 MAY 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1.Various shots, Palais Wilson- Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
2.SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Israel’s orders for civilians to evacuate parts of Gaza, will lead to further deaths, suffering and destruction to increase beyond already unbearable levels. Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine. And today, they have been told by that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up. This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international laws. Forcibly relocating hundreds of thousands from Rafah to areas which have already been flattened and where there is little shelter and virtually no access to humanitarian assistance is inconceivable. It will only expose them to more danger and misery. There must be a ceasefire. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow freely and at scale. And the hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released at once. International humanitarian law prohibits ordering the displacement of civilians for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand, and even then, subject to strict legal requirements. Failure to meet these obligations may amount to forced displacement, which is a war crime. Those that elect to flout international law must be held to account.”
Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today (6 May) said Israel’s orders to Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah “will lead to further deaths, suffering and destruction to increase beyond already unbearable levels.”
Reading a statement, Shamdasani said, “Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine. And today, they have been told by that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up.”
This, she said, “is inhumane” and “runs contrary to the basic principles of international laws.”
Shamdasani said, “forcibly relocating hundreds of thousands from Rafah to areas which have already been flattened and where there is little shelter and virtually no access to humanitarian assistance is inconceivable. It will only expose them to more danger and misery.”
Calling for a ceasefire, she said, “humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow freely and at scale. And the hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released at once.”
To conclude Shamdasani said, “international humanitarian law prohibits ordering the displacement of civilians for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand, and even then, subject to strict legal requirements. Failure to meet these obligations may amount to forced displacement, which is a war crime. Those that elect to flout international law must be held to account.”
