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STORY: OHCHR / GAZA SITUATION
TRT: 02:15
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 APRIL 2025, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Various shots, exteriors, Palais Wilson,
29 APRIL 2025, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Thameen Al-Kheetan, Spokesperson, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We urge the world to act to prevent the total collapse of critical life-saving support in Gaza, where Israeli strikes continue to kill civilians, including in shelters and health facilities. The complete blockade of essential assistance enters its ninth week. There must be concerted international efforts to stop this humanitarian catastrophe from reaching a new unseen level. Bakeries have now stopped working as flour and fuel have run out, and the remaining stocks of food are being rapidly depleted. Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of punishment constitutes a war crime, and so do all forms of collective punishment. A reported Israeli plan to declare Rafah governorate as a new “humanitarian zone” would require Palestinians to move there to receive food and humanitarian aid. Such a plan will almost certainly mean large parts of Gaza and those who cannot easily move will be forced to go without food. Meanwhile, Israel continues to strike locations in Gaza where Palestinian civilians are sheltering. Intentionally directing attacks against civilians not taking a direct part in hostilities would constitute a war crime. We reiterate that the cumulative impact of Israeli forces’ conduct in Gaza raises serious concerns that Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in the Strip conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza. Third States have clear obligations under international law to ensure that such conduct stops immediately, and they must act accordingly. They must also search for and bring to justice all perpetrators of crimes under international law, by whomever committed.”
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
4. Wide shot, exteriors, Palais Wilson,
A Human rights spokesperson today (29 Apr) urged “the world to act to prevent the total collapse of critical life-saving support in Gaza, where Israeli strikes continue to kill civilians, including in shelters and health facilities.”
As “the complete blockade of essential assistance enters its ninth week, the spokesperson, Thameen Al-Kheetan, said, “there must be concerted international efforts to stop this humanitarian catastrophe from reaching a new unseen level.”
Al-Kheetan said, “bakeries have now stopped working as flour and fuel have run out, and the remaining stocks of food are being rapidly depleted. Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of punishment constitutes a war crime, and so do all forms of collective punishment.”
A reported Israeli plan to declare Rafah governorate as a new “humanitarian zone,” he said, “would require Palestinians to move there to receive food and humanitarian aid. Such a plan will almost certainly mean large parts of Gaza and those who cannot easily move will be forced to go without food.”
Meanwhile, the spokesperson continued, “Israel continues to strike locations in Gaza where Palestinian civilians are sheltering,” stressing that “intentionally directing attacks against civilians not taking a direct part in hostilities would constitute a war crime.”
Al-Kheetan reiterated that “the cumulative impact of Israeli forces’ conduct in Gaza raises serious concerns that Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in the Strip conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza.”
He said, “third States have clear obligations under international law to ensure that such conduct stops immediately, and they must act accordingly. They must also search for and bring to justice all perpetrators of crimes under international law, by whomever committed.”
