UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk on Tuesday accused Israel of inhumanity in its military operations in Gaza, describing the situation in the Palestinian territory as "catastrophic" and calling for urgent international intervention.
In an interview with Austria's public broadcaster O1, Turk said Israel's conduct in Gaza in recent months "no longer has anything to do with respect for fundamental principles of humanity."
“It is very clear that we must talk to the current Israeli government very, very strongly and exert pressure to ensure that these serious violations of international law do not occur,” Turk said.
The UN official expressed alarm over what he described as the mass and repeated displacement of civilians in Gaza. He criticized Israel’s designation of large swaths of the territory as military zones.
“About 80 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip is now military areas where people are not allowed to stay,” Turk said. “There are no more words to describe it.”
The commissioner’s remarks follow a May 16 news conference in Geneva where he accused Israel of pursuing policies amounting to ethnic cleansing.
“It looks like a push for a permanent population transfer in Gaza that disregards international law and amounts to ethnic cleansing,” he said at the time.
Turk cited continued Israeli bombardments, destruction of neighborhoods, and the blockade of humanitarian aid as factors contributing to further displacement and humanitarian suffering in the enclave.
“We have to stop this madness,” he said.
Source: Anadolu Agency