New York City, 16 August 2024 (TDI): The UN high commissioner for human rights has lamented the loss of Palestinian lives in Gaza, after reports that the death toll in the war between Israel and Hamas has reached 40,000, most of them women and children.
This “unimaginable” death toll, reported by the Gazan Health Ministry, is “overwhelmingly” the result of the failure of the Israeli Defense Forces to respect the rules of war, Volker Turk said on Thursday.
“Today marks a grim milestone for the world,” he said. “On average, nealy 130 people have been killed every day in the Gaza Strip over the past ten months, the high commissioner added.
He said that the scale of the Israeli forces’ destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, and places of worship is deeply shocking.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said the United Nations officials are aware “this number is an approximation” and “given the disturbing number, the large number of people who remain unaccounted for, who may be dead or trapped under the rubble, this number may if anything be an undercount.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that grieving Palestinian families have no time to mourn their dead, as survivors face “death, hunger, pain, and thirst on a daily basis.”
Endless Cycle of Displacement
The hostilities and recurrent Israeli evacuation orders are driving a “seemingly endless cycle of displacement” that is making it very difficult for residents in Gaza to access the humanitarian aid they need to survive.
A humanitarian team that reached two sites in Khan Younis on Thursday and talked with displaced families found that in addition to shortages of food and high rates for what little is available, a lack of cleaning and hygiene products is causing cases of skin infections to spread, with minors particularly badly affected.
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Displaced families have to construct their own shelters “with whatever fabric, cartons, and pieces of wood they find,” the team said. “Children are attacked by insects and rodents at night due to very poor shelter conditions. And yet they might have to shift again and start it all over again.”
Turk said that international humanitarian law was very clear on the paramount significance of the protection of civilians, and civilian property and infrastructure.
