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NEW YORK CITY: After five months of its war on Gaza, Israeli authorities have lost all credibility in their claims that they are attempting to protect Palestinian civilians in the besieged territory, a UN expert said on Wednesday.
Instead, they continue to display an unprecedented “wholesale disregard” for the rights of displaced people there, said Paula Gaviria Betancur, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.
She accused Israel of using evacuation orders simply to forcibly relocate the people of Gaza and confine them in conditions not fit for living. She also said she is appalled by Israel’s stated intention to extend such orders to include the southern city of Rafah — the last refuge for more than 1.5 million displaced Gazans and the only remaining functioning entry point for humanitarian aid to the territory — should its demands not be met by March 10.
“Any evacuation order imposed on Rafah under the current conditions, with the rest of Gaza lying in ruins, would be in flagrant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, forcing people to flee to conditions of certain death, deprived of food, water, health care and shelter,” Gaviria Betancur said.
Few internal-displacement crises in recent history have matched wholesale disregard for the rights of the displaced in Gaza, she added.
“(Internally displaced persons) in Gaza have been arbitrarily driven from their homes multiple times with no regard for their rights to life, dignity, liberty and security,” she said.
“It is impossible to conceive of any durable solution to their displacement, given Israel’s systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, schools, markets and places of worship, atop the immense psychological toll the conflict has taken on the people of Gaza.
“Preventing arbitrary displacement, and providing protection, assistance and durable solutions to displaced persons are neither optional nor acts of charity. They are Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under international law.”
Israel continues to carry out air strikes on Rafah that kill more than 100 Palestinians each day. Survivors are forced to endure unimaginable hardship, living in tents that flood when it rains or makeshift shelters made from scraps of material. UN humanitarians officials sound the alarm daily about the need for Israeli authorities to allow the delivery of greater amounts of desperately needed humanitarian assistance.
Gaviria Betancur condemned Israel’s “continued efforts to obstruct and weaponize humanitarian aid, including through attacks on civilians seeking aid.”
The International Court of Justice in January ordered Israel to refrain from taking action against the people of Gaza that could amount to genocide, and to implement “immediate and effective measures” to ensure humanitarian aid is provided to civilians.
“Instead, Israel immediately launched a campaign to discredit and defund UNRWA (the UN’s agency that provides aid and development assistance for Palestinians), the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, based on allegations for which Israel has yet to publicly provide any credible evidence,” Gaviria Betancur said.
“Israel has also continued to attack aid convoys and health facilities, impose arbitrary movement restrictions on humanitarian actors, and done little to hold Israeli citizens accountable for blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid. As a result, starvation and disease are running rampant and claiming lives alongside Israel’s military actions.
“Most disturbingly, Israel appears to have expanded its assault on humanitarian aid to systematically target aid-seekers themselves,” she added, referring to a massacre on Feb. 29 when hundreds of people were killed or injured while queueing for food aid.
“I am horrified by the depravity of killing civilians while they are at their most vulnerable and seeking basic assistance. These constitute atrocity crimes of the highest order.”
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October, about five percent of Gaza’s population has been killed or injured, and more than 75 percent displaced, according to monitors.
“Palestinian lives are not mere statistics,” Gaviria Betancur said. “These are families struggling to make ends meet, loved ones torn apart, children trying to find joy amidst unimaginable trauma — people like anywhere else.
“The international community must abandon the fiction that Israel will respect the principles of international humanitarian and human rights law in its military operations.
“An immediate and permanent ceasefire, coupled with meaningful measures to document and ensure accountability for atrocities, as well as secure the fundamental rights of Palestinians in Gaza, is the only path forward for the sake of our shared humanity.”
Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. They are independent experts who work on a voluntary basis, are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.