Malaysia accuses UN Human Rights Council of ‘complicity’ in Gaza offensive

Malaysia’s deputy foreign minister has said that Israel must be held accountable for the relentless bloodshed and widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip, Malaysian National News Agency has reported. Datuk Mohamad Alamin made his comments in his speech at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“The very least that we can do is to ensure that the council lives up to its mandate,” said Alamin. “Silence, inaction and preferential treatment from this council implies complicity too.” He described the current situation in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip as “disastrous”.

Alamin also noted that he personally witnessed the “heart-wrenching humanitarian devastation” at the Rafah Border Crossing on 23 February. “Victims are barely surviving, in what seems to be an endless nightmare,” he said. The Malaysian official renewed his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and stressed the need to hold Israel accountable for the bloodshed and widespread destruction in the enclave.

“Malaysia will stand with the oppressed and castigate atrocities while advocating for peace and the well-being of all mankind,” stressed the deputy minister. “Malaysia will not relent until justice is served, impunity is abolished, and Palestine assumes its rightful seat as a full-fledged member state of the United Nations.”

The UN Human Rights Council did not issue any immediate comment on the Malaysian official’s statement.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following the 7 October cross-border attack by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in which up to 1,200 Israelis are said to have been killed, many of them by tanks and helicopter gunships of the Israel occupation forces. Israel’s onslaught against the Palestinians in Gaza since October has killed at least 30,000 people and wounded 70,000 more, most of them children and women.

The Israeli offensive has displaced 85 per cent of Gaza’s population amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine. According to the UN, 60 per cent of the enclave’s civilian infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, including hospitals, schools, places of worship and homes.

The occupation state stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Israel to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. It appears to have largely ignored the court’s ruling.

READ: Gaza suffering ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ amid Israeli onslaught: Morocco