UN rights chief calls for end to Gaza ‘carnage’

The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has called to put an end to the “carnage” in Gaza, expressing: “There appear to be no bounds to, nor words to capture the horrors that are unfolding before our eyes in Gaza.”

“Since early October, over 100,000 people have been killed or wounded. Let me repeat that: about one in every 20 children, women, and men, are now dead or wounded,” Turk conveyed on Thursday during the 55th interactive dialogue on the human rights situation in Palestine held in Geneva.

He added that at least 17,000 children are orphaned or separated from their families, while many more will carry the scars of physical and emotional trauma for life: “Today, the total number of people killed has exceeded 30,000. And tens of thousands of people are missing, many presumed buried under the rubble of their homes. This is carnage.”

Turk stressed the need to end the war in Gaza, adding that violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, including war crimes and possibly other crimes under international law, have been committed in Gaza.

Since 7 October, Israel has been waging a devastating war against the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 30,035 people and wounding 70,457 others, in addition to the displacement of more than 85 per cent (about 1.9 million people) of the Gaza Strip’s population, according to the Palestinian and United Nations figures.

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