Chris Gunness, a former Spokesman for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, has denounced Israel’s continuing attacks in Gaza, and countries around the world for failing to stop it.
He said that in the last year, Gaza has transformed from the “world’s largest open-air prison to the world’s largest concentration camp.”
“Today, Gaza has been transformed into an industrial-scale slaughterhouse. And I use the word ‘slaughter’ advisedly because frankly animals in most abattoirs around the world are killed more humanely than the women and children of Gaza.
“Shame on the UN Security Council, shame on the Israeli leaders who’ve done this, and shame on all of us because what we’ve seen in the last year is a stain on the conscience of humanity.”
Chris Gunness
Separately, Medical Aid for Palestinians(MAP), a UK-based relief group, called on the international community to take meaningful action to enforce a ceasefire, uphold international law, and protect Palestinians from potential genocide.
The group noted that Israeli forces have killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza, crippled the enclave’s healthcare system and strangled access to electricity, food, water, medicine and fuel.
Fikr Shalltoot, MAP’s Gaza Director stated, “We have run out of words to describe the horrors our teams are witnessing and experiencing in Gaza.”
“Frequent mass killings of civilians, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, and the systematic destruction of healthcare are an existential threat to people. Gaza is being erased in front of our eyes.”
Fikr Shalltoot
A group of UN human rights experts also reiterated their call on all warring parties in the Middle East to “immediately cease hostilities” in a statement marking one year since Hamas’s October 7 attacks and Israel’s war on Gaza.
According to the experts, the past year has seen a devastating escalation in human suffering, with severe consequences for the Palestinian people, Israelis and the entire Middle East region.
They expressed their heartfelt compassion to all victims and their families, especially the children, “who should have been spared the scourge of war”, and recalled the heavy human cost of this conflict and immediate need for peace and accountability.”
The group said that Hamas’ attacks on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war on Gaza constitute war crimes and called on the international community to investigate these grave violations and ensure full reparation for victims and their families.
They also called for an arms embargo on Israel and expressed alarm at the expansion of the violence, particularly in Lebanon.
At least 175 media workers have been killed in Gaza in the past year, a figure described by Tim Dawson of the International Federation of Journalists as an “absolutely shocking level of loss of life.”
Dawson noted that in Israel’s killing of Gaza’s media workers, it’s very hard not to conclude that these were deliberate actions.
“What is most important now is for the International Criminal Court to intensify its investigation … What we need is judicial review of the evidence and a holding to account, where necessary, of those who perpetrated war crimes.”
Tim Dawson
War Especially Hard On Those With Special Needs
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization acknowledged that the situation in Gaza makes it impossible for people to access care or remain safe and healthy.
The WHO said a lack of food, water, hygiene, safety and medicine has made it hard especially for those with special needs.
It added that 24,090 of the wounded in the war on Gaza have life-changing injuries, with 180 women giving birth every day.
According to the statement, even before the current hostilities, there were 650,000 people with hypertension, 1,500 people with kidney disease, 485,000 people with mental health disorders, and 2,000 cancer patients without access to oncology services.
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