Images of several Palestinian children killed during Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip between August 5 and 7, 2022. Photo: MEE.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, alarmed by the mass murder of Palestinian children by Israel in the latest escalation, urges accountability.
In a statement released this Thursday, August 11, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Michelle Bachelet, has sounded the alarm due to the high number of dead or injured Palestinians, including numerous children, in the occupied Palestinian territories this year, in particular during the latest Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Last week, 19 Palestinian children were killed, bringing to 37 the number of minors killed so far this year, according to figures from Bachelet’s office. 17 children lost their lives during hostilities in Gaza from August 5 to 7, and two others were killed on August 9 during Israeli incursions into the West Bank.
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“Inflicting harm on any child during the course of a conflict is deeply disturbing; killing and maiming so many children this year is unacceptable,” Bachelet wrote in the statement.
The UN Human Rights Office has verified that 48 Palestinians were killed in Gaza last week, including 17 children.
In addition, 360 Palestinians were injured during the latest Israeli attacks, including 151 children and 19 elderly people, the UN disclosed.
In violation of international humanitarian law, according to the High Commissioner, several Israeli attacks hit prima facie properties that were clearly civilians, causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian properties. The High Commissioner demanded that Israel put an end to these attacks.
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Bachelet condemned the widespread use of live ammunition by Israeli forces in their operations in the West Bank—including in eastern Al-Quds (Jerusalem)—which in 2022 has caused an alarming increase in Palestinian deaths, bring the total to at least 74 Palestinians, including 20 children, killed this year alone.
Likewise, she called for a prompt, independent, impartial, exhaustive, and transparent investigation of all incidents in which there were deaths or injuries.
She denounced that all this Israeli violence occurs while “an almost total lack of accountability persists in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” for violations of international humanitarian law. “This climate of impunity, together with long-standing violations, drives the cycle of violence and the recurrence of violations,” she warned.
(HispanTV)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
