UN rights chief: Israel’s killing and maiming of Palestinian children is “unconscionable”

Geneva (QNN)- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has expressed alarm at the high number of Palestinians, particularly children, killed and injured by Israeli forces in occupied Palestinian territory so far this year.

“Inflicting hurt on any child during the course of conflict is deeply disturbing, and the killing and maiming of so many children this year is unconscionable,” said Bachelet in a statement issued on Thursday.

Nineteen Palestinian children were killed in occupied Palestinian territory in the last week alone, bringing the death toll of children since the start of the year to 37, according to the statement.

Seventeen of the children were killed during last weekend’s aggression on Gaza by Israeli forces, and two more children were killed on Tuesday in Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank.

The statement noted that while the ceasefire for the latest aggression on Gaza is holding, tensions remain very high in the West Bank, where four Palestinians were killed and 90 others were injured by live ammunition on August 9.

The toll of civilian casualties in the Israeli attack on Gaza “was heavy”, the UN rights chief said.

“The situation in Palestine is extremely fragile, and events such as in Nablus risk igniting further hostilities in Gaza. The utmost restraint is necessary to prevent further bloodshed, including by ensuring that firearms are used strictly in compliance with international standards,” the UN rights Chief said.

“International humanitarian law is clear. Launching an attack which may be expected to incidentally kill or injure civilians, or damage civilian objects, in disproportionate manner to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited. Such attacks must stop,” Bachelet added.

Nearly two-thirds of the 360 Palestinians reported injured in the Israeli offensive were civilians, including 151 children, 58 women and 19 older people, the UN said.

Bachelet also said that the widespread use of live ammunition by Israeli forces in its operations in the occupied West Bank, including eastern part of occupied Jerusalem, had led to an alarming number of Palestinians being killed.

The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory has so far this year documented the killing of 74 Palestinians, including 20 children. In many incidents, Israeli forces used lethal force in a manner that appeared to be in violation of international human rights law, she added.

Bachelet also called for speedy, independent, impartial, and transparent investigations into all incidents where any person was killed or injured, and she lamented what she described as a “climate of impunity” and “the long-standing violations” that powered “the cycle of violence” in the occupied territories.

She said that “An almost total lack of accountability persists in the occupied Palestinian territory – whether for violations of international humanitarian law by all parties in hostilities in Gaza, or for recurring Israeli violations of international human rights law and the law of occupation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including incidents of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force.”