As heavy Israeli bombardments continued to hit the Palestinian enclave on Thursday, dozens of the United Nations’ rights experts said Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip “amounts to collective punishment”.
The statement comes aftIn retaliatory air and artillery strikes, Israeli forces have flattened entire neighbourhoods, hospitals and schools in Gaza, killing 1,200 Palestinians since Saturday, and displacing more than 338,000. Yesterday, electricity went out after the only power station stopped working.er Israel imposed a “total siege” to stop food and fuel from reaching the enclave of 2.3 million people, many poor and dependent on aid in response to a surprise Hamas offensive on Saturday that left 1,200 Israelis dead, according to officials.
While condemning the “horrific crimes committed by Hamas”, the group said that Israel had resorted to “indiscriminate military attacks against the already exhausted Palestinian people of Gaza”.
“They have lived under unlawful blockade for 16 years, and already gone through five major brutal wars, which remain unaccounted for,” the group, which includes several UN special rapporteurs, said in a statement.
“This amounts to collective punishment. There is no justification for violence that indiscriminately targets innocent civilians, whether by Hamas or Israeli forces. This is absolutely prohibited under international law and amounts to a war crime,” the group said.
The group said that taking hostages in the context of hostilities also constituted a war crime.
“The civilians taken by Hamas must be immediately released, pending which their fate and whereabouts must be disclosed,” the experts said.
Fuel power hospitals’ generators could run out in hours
The International Committee of the Red Cross said fuel powering emergency generators at hospitals could run out within hours.
“The human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent, and I implore the sides to reduce the suffering of civilians,” ICRC regional director Fabrizio Carboni said in a statement on Thursday.
“As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays cant be taken. Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues.”
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said there would be no exceptions to the siege without freedom for Israeli hostages.
“Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be lifted, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home. Humanitarian for humanitarian. And nobody should preach us morals,” Katz posted on social media platform X – AFP
