The United Nations human rights chief said on Friday that Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip might amount to crimes against humanity, one of his most forceful public denunciations yet, reflecting the rising international backlash against the way Israel is waging war against Hamas.
Around the same time, Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, at a joint news conference in London with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, said that Israel was conducting “ethnic cleansing” in northern Gaza, “and that has got to stop.”
Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights based in Geneva, said in a statement: “Unimaginably, the situation is getting worse by the day. The Israeli government’s policies and practices in northern Gaza risk emptying the area of all Palestinians. We are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including potentially extending to crimes against humanity.”
He reminded world leaders that the U.N. genocide convention imposes a binding obligation on states to act when there is a risk of such crimes being committed. “The international rule of law is being progressively dismantled,” Mr. Türk said. “Either the world ashamedly fails those who so desperately need help, or we stand united and put a stop to this.”
The Biden administration, Israel’s most important ally, has criticized Israel’s yearlong campaign in Gaza against Hamas, saying that while Israel was justified in retaliating for the Oct. 7, 2023, assault, the resulting destruction and casualties have been excessive. But it has not gone nearly as far as Mr. Türk, Mr. Safadi and others in condemning Israel’s conduct or demanding that it end.
“It’s getting worse, unfortunately, every time we meet,” Mr. Safadi said. “Not for lack of us trying, but because we do have an Israeli government that is not listening to anybody.”
The State Department said that Mr. Blinken had met with Mr. Safadi “to discuss ongoing efforts to de-escalate regional tensions.” They also talked about efforts to end the war in Gaza, to free the remaining hostages there and to get more food and medicine to the territory, it said.
Mr. Blinken was holding a day of meetings with Arab officials in London after his latest tour of the Middle East. He met with Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, to pursue a diplomatic solution to Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a conflict entwined with the war in Gaza, as well as the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Mr. Türk noted that Hamas and other armed groups were putting civilians in harm’s way by continuing to operate among areas such as shelters for the displaced, which he said was “totally unacceptable.” But his harshest words were aimed at Israel.
“The bombing in north Gaza is nonstop,” he said. “The Israeli military has ordered hundreds of thousands to move, with no guarantees of return. But there is no safe way to leave. The bombs continue to fall.”
The war has killed almost 43,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities there. It has also destroyed much of the territory’s housing and other infrastructure and has forced most of its people to flee their homes.
Mr. Türk said the number of Palestinians reported killed, injured or missing in the war exceeds 150,000, a figure that the current Israeli offensive in northern Gaza could push dramatically higher.
“The Israeli military is striking hospitals, and staff and patients have been killed and injured or forced to evacuate simultaneously,” he said. “Shelters, once schools, are struck daily. Communication with the outside world remains extremely limited. Journalists continue to be killed.”
Mr. Türk said that Israel has allowed little aid to reach Gaza, and many Palestinians now face starvation.
The post U.N. Warns of ‘Atrocity Crimes’ in Gaza appeared first on New York Times.