Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for human rights, has said in a statement that he is deeply distressed by fast-deteriorating conditions in Gaza.
He stated that the latest evacuation orders had triggered “massive displacement of an already profoundly traumatised population.”
He said that the towns supposed to receive those displaced from Rafah had already been “reduced to rubble.”
The Israeli military on Saturday, May 11, 2024, expanded an evacuation order for eastern Rafah and said that 300,000 Palestinians had left the area.
There are grave concerns for the security of those fleeing to the “expanded humanitarian zone.”
The said zone is packed with hundreds of thousands of displaced people who have, according to aid workers, overwhelmed entirely inadequate supplies of food, clean water and healthcare.
Sanitation barely exists, leading to the rapid spread of disease.
“The latest evacuation orders affect close to a million people in Rafah. So where should they go now? There is no safe place in Gaza!” Turk said in the statement.
He added, “These exhausted, famished people, many of whom have been displaced many times already, have no good options.”
The IDF has said that those displaced from Rafah will receive adequate food, water, shelter and sanitation in the humanitarian zone. But aid agencies describe acute overcrowding, limited and dirty water, almost no sanitation, and inadequate food supplies.
Additionally, he stated that a full-scale offensive could have a “catastrophic impact … including the possibility of further atrocity crimes.”
“I can see no way that the latest evacuation orders, much less a full assault, in an area with an extremely dense presence of civilians, can be reconciled with the binding requirements of international humanitarian law and with the two sets of binding provisional measures ordered by the international court of justice.”
Volker Turk
Turk asserted that a full scale offensive on Rafah “cannot take place” and called on all states with influence to do everything in their power to prevent it.
Long Road Back From Devastation And Trauma Of War In Gaza
Also on Sunday, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, reiterated his calls for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, but said it would be a “long road back from the devastation” of the conflict even when the fighting had stopped.
Speaking in a video address to an international donors’ conference in Kuwait, Guterres said, “I repeat my call, the world’s call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid.”
“But a ceasefire will only be the start. It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war …
“The war in Gaza is causing horrific human suffering, devastating lives, tearing families apart and renderi.ng huge numbers of people homeless, hungry and traumatised.”
Antonio Guterres
His comments came as Israeli strikes on Gaza continued on Sunday, May 12, 2024, after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah despite international outcry over its military incursion into eastern areas of the city, which has effectively shutting a key aid crossing.
The closure of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, the difficulties of reaching the Kerem Shalom crossing because of the fighting, a lack of transport because of fuel shortages and the flight of key workers mean almost no aid is reaching southern and central Gaza.
Humanitarian organisations have been the only source of food and medical services for much of the city’s population for many months but are now shutting down services.
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