UN Commissioner: Israel’s crimes against civilians in Gaza shock conscience of world

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said on Monday that the mass killings carried out by Israel against Palestinian civilians in Gaza shock the conscience of the world.

In a post on the platform X, monitored by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), Türk stated that the mass killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the indescribable suffering and widespread destruction, Israel’s obstruction of adequate life-saving aid, the resulting starvation of civilians, its killings of journalists, UN staff, and NGO workers, and its commission of war crimes against civilians—all of these shock the conscience of the world.

He added: “I am appalled by the open use of genocidal rhetoric and the disgraceful dehumanization practiced by senior Israeli officials toward Palestinians.”

On August 22, the United Nations and its agencies officially declared the onset of famine in Gaza Governorate and predicted its spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governorates by the end of September.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are facing an unprecedented wave of hunger since Israel closed the crossings at the beginning of March and imposed severe restrictions on the entry of food, relief supplies, fuel, and medicine.

With U.S. and European support, the Israeli army has continued since October 7, 2023, to commit acts of genocide, siege warfare, and starvation in the Gaza Strip. These have resulted in the deaths of 64,522 Palestinian civilians, the majority of them women and children, and injuries to 163,096 others to date, in a non-final toll, as thousands of victims remain trapped under the rubble and on the roads, unreachable by ambulance and rescue crews.