Gaza – Together – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Trk, stressed on Monday that the evacuation order issued by Israel to residents east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip is ‘inhumane.’
Turk said in a statement: ‘The people of Gaza are still exposed to bombing, disease and even starvation. Today they are told that they must be displaced again’ with ‘the intensification of Israeli military operations in Rafah.’
He added, “It is inhumane. It contradicts the basic principles of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that ‘it is unthinkable to forcibly transfer hundreds of thousands of people from Rafah to areas that have been destroyed, where there are few shelters and almost no access to the humanitarian assistance necessary for their survival.’
‘This will only expose them to more danger and misery,’ he warned.
Turk stressed that after more than six months of continuous bombin
g by Israeli forces on the Gaza Strip, “there is no place outside Rafah that has the infrastructure and resources necessary to accommodate the mass displacement of more than a million people.”
For its part, the World Health Organization announced on the ‘X’ platform that the evacuation ‘will exacerbate the suffering.’
“With the destruction of infrastructure and basic services throughout the Gaza Strip, there is no safe and habitable place,” she said.
In addition, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that international humanitarian law prohibits ordering the displacement of civilians for reasons related to the conflict, ‘unless the security of the civilians concerned or compelling military reasons so require, and even in this case, under strict legal requirements.’
‘Failure to comply with these obligations may constitute forced displacement, which is a war crime,’ Turk said.
“Above all, there must be a ceasefire. Humanitarian aid must be able to move freely and on a large scale.
Hostages and arbitrarily detained people must be released immediately,” Trk said.
For his part, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, warned on Monday that the ‘mass evacuation’ of a portion of Rafah’s population ordered by Israel is ‘impossible’ to be carried out in a ‘safe’ manner, stressing that the United Nations is not participating. Any involuntary evacuation.
He told reporters, “Today’s evacuation orders from eastern Rafah will simply increase the suffering of civilians. They have been ordered to move toward the already overcrowded waterways, which lack security and basic humanitarian services. It is impossible to carry out a mass evacuation of this size safely.”
Source: Maan News Agency
