UN Human Rights Chief: Unconscionable Death and Suffering Happening in Gaza

A child looks on as Palestinians search for missing people under the rubble of a destroyed house following an Israeli air strike, at al-Nuseirat refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 18 June 2024. (EPA)
A child looks on as Palestinians search for missing people under the rubble of a destroyed house following an Israeli air strike, at al-Nuseirat refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 18 June 2024. (EPA)
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UN Human Rights Chief: Unconscionable Death and Suffering Happening in Gaza

A child looks on as Palestinians search for missing people under the rubble of a destroyed house following an Israeli air strike, at al-Nuseirat refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 18 June 2024. (EPA)
A child looks on as Palestinians search for missing people under the rubble of a destroyed house following an Israeli air strike, at al-Nuseirat refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 18 June 2024. (EPA)

Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are suffering a drastically worsening human rights environment, alongside "unconscionable death and suffering" in the Gaza Strip, the UN human rights chief said on Tuesday.

"The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating," Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the opening session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The West Bank, where the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule under Israeli occupation, has seen the worst unrest for decades, in parallel with the war in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.

Turk said that from the start of the Gaza war in October through mid-June, 528 Palestinians, 133 of them children, had been killed by Israeli security forces or settlers in the West Bank, in some cases raising "serious concerns of unlawful killings".

Twenty-three Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and Israel in clashes with or attacks by Palestinians, he said.

In Gaza, Turk said he was "appalled by the disregard for international human rights and humanitarian law" by parties to the war.

"Israel's relentless strikes in Gaza are causing immense suffering and widespread destruction, and the arbitrary denial and obstruction of humanitarian aid have continued," Turk said.

"Israel continues to detain arbitrarily thousands of Palestinians. This must not continue."

He added that Palestinian armed groups were continuing to hold hostages, including in populated areas, which put both the hostages and civilians at risk.

Israel's permanent mission to the UN in Geneva accused Turk of "completely omitting the cruelty and barbarity of terrorism" in his address to the UN Human Rights Council.

"Hostilities in Gaza are the direct result of Hamas terrorism, decades of rocket-fire and incitement against the Jewish people and the State of Israel, culminating in its brutal attacks against Israel on October 7," the diplomatic mission said in a statement.

Israel's ground and air campaign was triggered when Hamas-led fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's offensive has killed more than 37,400 people in Gaza, according to its health authorities, and left much of the enclave's population homeless.



Sisi, King Abdullah Agree that Gaza Should Be Rebuilt Without Displacing Palestinians

Palestinians travel from the southern Gaza Strip towards the north following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, 12 February 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Palestinians travel from the southern Gaza Strip towards the north following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, 12 February 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Sisi, King Abdullah Agree that Gaza Should Be Rebuilt Without Displacing Palestinians

Palestinians travel from the southern Gaza Strip towards the north following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, 12 February 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Palestinians travel from the southern Gaza Strip towards the north following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, 12 February 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II said that Gaza should be rebuilt without displacing Palestinians, Egypt's presidency said in a statement reporting a phone call between the two on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump has continued to push for a plan to resettle the Palestinian population to both Egypt and Jordan, a proposal both countries have rejected repeatedly.

King Abdullah rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians after meeting with Trump on Tuesday.

During the meeting at the White House, Abdullah volunteered to accept up to 2,000 children from Gaza who have cancer or otherwise require medical treatment.
But in a post on X after the meeting, he “reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank," adding that it was a "unified Arab position.”

The Palestinians also reject Trump's plan, which they view as an attempt to forcibly displace them from part of their homeland.