{"id":291428,"date":"2023-12-06T15:14:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T20:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=291428"},"modified":"2024-01-02T15:01:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T20:01:27","slug":"uns-turk-urges-probe-into-alleged-sexual-violence-during-hamas-terror-attacks-dec6-2023","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/uns-turk-urges-probe-into-alleged-sexual-violence-during-hamas-terror-attacks-dec6-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"UN’s T\u00fcrk urges probe into alleged sexual violence during Hamas terror attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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6 December 2023 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Rescue

\u00a9 Magen David Adom Israel\/Rescue workers attend a damaged residential block in southern Israel.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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UN human rights chief Volker T\u00fcrk on Wednesday condemned serious sexual violations allegedly carried out by Hamas militants during their terror attacks in southern Israel on 7 October, while humanitarians in Gaza said conditions for civilians there had hit \u201crock bottom\u201d, amid continued bombardment and mass displacement in the south.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The High Commissioner also rejected allegations of double standards regarding the UN\u2019s position on the crisis in Gaza, noting that he had been made aware of allegations of sexual violence during the Hamas attack on communities in southern Israel.<\/p>\n

It was \u201cpainfully clear\u201d that the \u201catrocious\u201d attacks should be fully investigated independently \u201cbecause that is what we owe the victims\u201d, he said, while also decrying the \u201ccatastrophic\u201d scenes playing out in Gaza since Israeli Defense Forces began their retaliation for the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.<\/p>\n

Independent investigation<\/h2>\n

Mr. T\u00fcrk also noted that similarly grave human rights probes such as the one into the alleged mass killing of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, by Russian forces in April 2022,\u00a0took several months to launch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe it to the victims that there are serious investigations into the allegations and that justice is served<\/strong>,\u201d he said, adding that his Office had issued a request to Israel in the second week of October to allow a team of UN rights investigators access to carry out their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve repeated this call and I hope it will be heeded,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 OHCHR\/ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk briefs journalists at a press conference ahead of Human Rights Day.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Mr. T\u00fcrk repeated previous calls for the fighting to stop and for countries with influence on the belligerents to protect civilians as a priority, in line with the laws of war.<\/p>\n

Those comments came after his Office stated that \u201cthe pattern of attacks that target or impact on civilian infrastructure raises serious concerns about Israel\u2019s compliance with international humanitarian law and significantly raises the risk of atrocity crimes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an immediate step, I call for an urgent cessation of hostilities,\u201d he said. \u201cAll parties are aware of what is really needed to achieve peace and security for Palestinian and Israeli peoples;\u00a0violence and vengeance can only result in more hatred and radicalisation<\/strong>. The only way to end the accumulative sufferings is ending the occupation and achieving the two-State solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. T\u00fcrk also reiterated his grave concerns about \u201cdehumanizing and inciteful statements\u201d made by serving and former high-level Israeli officials, as well as Hamas figures. \u201cHistory has shown us where this kind of language can lead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just unacceptable, but a competent court may view such statements, in the circumstances in which they were made, as incitement to atrocity crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Airstrikes and rocket fire<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve hit rock bottom and it is a turning point in this war<\/strong>,\u201d said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees,\u00a0UNRWA<\/a>, during a media interview posted online on Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s getting worse by the minute; we\u2019re getting constant SOS calls from colleagues and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Latest information from UN aid coordination office\u00a0OCHA<\/a>\u00a0indicates \u201csignificantly intensified\u201d Israeli bombardments from air, land and sea across Gaza since Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Rocket firing by Palestinian armed groups into Israel has also increased, OCHA reported in its emergency update.<\/p>\n

There has been \u201cintense fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups\u201d, in particular in the eastern Gaza city, at the reportedly encircled Jabalia refugee camp in the north, and in areas east of Khan Younis to the south, where tens of thousands of people have sought the relative safety of UNRWA shelters that are already very overcrowded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had 60,000 only (arriving) in the past few hours,\u201d Ms. Touma said.<\/p>\n

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, since the resumption of hostilities on 1 December and until 5 December, at least 1,207 Palestinians have been killed, of whom 70 per cent were children and women.<\/p>\n

Limited aid distribution<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The OCHA update noted that dozens of aid trucks carrying humanitarian supplies and fuel entered from Egypt into Gaza on Tuesday, but that for the third consecutive day, Gaza\u2019s Rafah governorate was the only one where limited aid distributions happened.<\/p>\n

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\"Families<\/div>\n
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\u00a9 UNICEF\/Abed Zaqout<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In adjacent Khan Younis governorate, \u201caid distribution largely stopped due to the intensity of hostilities\u201d, the UN aid office said, while Gaza\u2019s Middle Area was \u201clargely disconnected from the south\u201d, following restrictions placed on movement along the main roads by Israeli forces.<\/p>\n

Access to areas north of Wadi Gaza came to a halt on 1 December with the resumption of hostilities last Friday which ended the week-long humanitarian pause, OCHA added.<\/p>\n

Among the deadliest recent incidents reported – some of which hit residential buildings \u2013 the UN office said that on 4 December \u201cat about 2.40pm, seven people, including two girls, were reportedly killed in Deir al -Balah. On 4 December, at about 3.40pm, seven people were reportedly killed in Khan Yunis; on 5 December, at about 7.30am, 15 people were reportedly killed in Jabalia; on 5 December, at about 8.50am, 10 people were reportedly killed in the new camp in Nuseirat, Middle Area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Almost impossible\u2019 to deliver<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition to the looming health crisis in the enclave that is the result of overcrowding and deeply unsanitary conditions, the UN World Food Programme (WFP<\/a>) also warned on Tuesday that the resumption of hostilities in Gaza \u201cwill only intensify the catastrophic hunger crisis\u201d that already threatens to overwhelm civilians.<\/p>\n

The WFP statement explained that \u201cthe renewed fighting makes the distribution of aid almost impossible and endangers the lives of humanitarian workers\u201d.<\/p>\n

At least 16,248 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the latest escalation, about 70 per cent were women and children, OCHA said, citing the Gazan health authority. Many more are missing, presumably under the rubble, awaiting rescue or recovery, it noted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      6 December 2023     UN human rights chief Volker T\u00fcrk on Wednesday condemned serious sexual violations allegedly carried out by Hamas militants during their terror attacks in southern Israel on 7 October, while humanitarians in Gaza said conditions for civilians there had hit \u201crock bottom\u201d, amid continued bombardment and mass displacement […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1699],"document-source":[6169],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,5449,1829,2265,2033,2057,2005,2533,5200,2613,2349,6845,6901,2729,2117,6245,1841],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-291428","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-conference","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance-to-the-palestinian-people","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-children","document-subject-food","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-health","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","document-subject-internally-displaced-persons","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-protection-of-civilians","document-subject-sexual-violence","document-subject-shelter","document-subject-terrorism","document-subject-violence","document-subject-women","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/291428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/291428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291447,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/291428\/revisions\/291447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=291428"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=291428"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=291428"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=291428"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=291428"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=291428"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=291428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}