Gaza is ‘Hell on Earth,’ Says Red Cross Chief Amid Ongoing Israeli Assault

Gaza (Quds News Network)- The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) described Gaza as “hell on earth” amid Israel’s relentless assault.

Mirjana Spoljaric’s remarks come on the same day the UN human rights office warned that Israel’s tactics were threatening the viability of Palestinians continuing to live in Gaza at all.

Spoljaric said that what is happening in Gaza is an “extreme hollowing out” of international law.

Israeli bombardment, resumed on March 18, has killed over 1,540 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Istaeli military has also issued forced displacement threats that have forced nearly 400,000 people to flee their homes and shelters. Israel has also imposed a complete blockade on the entry of food, medical supplies and all other goods since 2 March.

“No state, no party to a conflict… can be exempt from the obligation not to commit war crimes, not to commit genocide, not to commit ethnic cleansing,” Spoljaric told the BBC.

Under the fourth Geneva Convention, occupying powers, as Israel is in Gaza, must ensure civilians have food and medicine, and protect hospitals and health workers. The convention also prohibits the forcible transfer of entire populations from occupied territories.

“These rules apply. They are universal.”
Civilians were bearing the brunt of a relentless pursuit of military objectives, she added, being displaced multiple times, and their homes reduced to rubble.

Of 36 recent airstrikes verified by the UN human rights office, all those killed were women and children.

The ICRC’s comments are the latest in a chorus of concern coming from the UN and other agencies.

On Friday the UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the “cumulative impact” of the Israeli conduct meant “the office is seriously concerned that Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group in Gaza”.

Israel was continuing to bomb tents in the al-Mawasi area it had told people to go to for their own safety, she added.

On Tuesday, the UN secretary general warned that Israel’s blockade of Gaza was violating the Geneva Conventions and the territory was becoming a “killing field”.

On Monday, the heads of six UN aid agencies appealed to the world to act to save the people of Gaza, and to uphold basic international law.

Spoljaric also warned of a growing “dehumanisation” during war, in which the international community was turning away even though it was clear war crimes were being committed.

The Geneva Conventions protecting civilians were created after World War Two, she pointed out, to make sure such dehumanisation never happened again. Diluting or abandoning them sends a dangerous signal that “everything is allowed”.

The ICRC believes that sticking with the rules of war can help, eventually, to build a more sustainable peace. Once the fighting stops, the thinking goes, both soldiers and civilians will remember whether those on the other side obeyed international law, or whether they committed atrocities.

But Gaza, Spoljaric believes “will haunt us. It will haunt us for a long time because you cannot undo the suffering… that will last for generations”.