"INTERNATIONAL COURTS"

After almost five months of constant Israeli bombardment and mass displacement in the Palestinian enclave which has left more than 30,000 dead, the UN rights chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council that for peace to be achievable in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, “occupation must end.” UNTV CH

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for an end to the “carnage” in Gaza as he presented his Office’s report on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. OHCHR / UNTV CH

The Human Rights Office called for accountability and justice for serious violations of the laws of armed conflict and other gross human rights violations committed by all parties in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel over the 12-month period up to 31 October last year. OHCHR

Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters, “In the Middle East and around the world, we need peace in every sense. Our world cannot afford to wait.” UNIFEED

United States Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters in New York that “if accepted and implemented,” a proposal being brokered by the US, Egypt, and Qatar, “would move all parties one step closer to creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” UNIFEED

Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told the Security Council that Israel continues to reject entry of humanitarian goods into Gaza “for reasons which are, at least to us, unclear and inconsistent.” UNIFEED

Regarding the recent allegations against some staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Secretary-General António Guterres said that the UN “immediately acted,” adding he was “personally horrified” by those accusations. He also appealed to all Member States to guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s “life-saving” work. UNIFEED

The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Following the announcement of the International Court of Justice in The Hague of provisional measures in the case of South Africa against Israel on the application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said it was “a historic day” and that he expected the issue to be discussed in the Security Council. UNIFEED

Remarks to the media by Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, after an emergency meeting of Permanent Observer Mission of the League of Arab States to the United Nations, following the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel for violating the provisions of the 1948 Genocide Convention.