The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights rejected Israeli allegations regarding the United Nations “tolerating” the distribution of aid in favor of a specific Palestinian faction, stressing that Israel has no right to assign the distribution of humanitarian aid to external parties or to assign companies related to this humanitarian task.
The Commission condemned the continuation of the Israeli restrictions imposed on the entry of aid to the Gaza Strip, and this was considered a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and Geneva Conventions, in light of the catastrophic conditions that the civilian population is going through due to the continuous Israeli aggression.
Israel prohibits the entry of any aid to the Gaza Strip since last March, which has led to the spread of hunger and fears of the spread of famine among all 2.3 million people in the sector.
Israel also recently agreed to establish the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” (JHF) to work as a substitute for United Nations societies and institutions and NGOs, as Israel refuses to continue these authorities to distribute the distribution tasks as they have been working for decades.
Rejected allegations
However, the United Nations rejected the Israeli plan, and said by Tom Fletcher, Undersecretary of the United Nations Secretary -General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that the plan “imposes more displacement, thousands of people are harmful, and the aid is limited to only one part of Gaza and does not meet other urgent needs, and makes aid associated with political and military goals, and the starvation makes a bargaining paper.”
In an interview with Al -Jazeera Net, the head of the Middle East and North Africa division at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mohamed Al -Nsour, stressed that the United Nations position is clear on the need to facilitate the introduction of humanitarian aid without delay or politicization.
Al -Nisour explained – from Geneva – that the Israeli allegations regarding the “indulgence” of the United Nations in distributing aid in favor of a “incorrect” Palestinian faction, stressing that the organization’s task is purely international and humanitarian.
He also criticized Israel’s attempts to assign the task of distributing aid to external parties or private companies, stressing that “the United Nations has been the authority authorized for decades to deliver aid to civilians” in the Palestinian territories.
Israel had criticized the United Nations, accusing it of “lenient” in front of the arrival of relief aid to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) specifically, and the movement accused itself of “stealing” this aid. But Hamas denies all these allegations.
The role of the United Nations
With regard to the legal status of the Palestinian people at this stage of the Israeli aggression, Al -Nisour explained that the legal framework regulating the situation in Gaza and the West Bank is the Geneva Conventions that obligate the occupation authority to protect civilians and provide the basics of life for them, in addition to the agreement to prevent genocide and international human rights law.
The head of the Middle East and North Africa department at the United Nations Commission pointed out that the commission’s reports on the violations of Israel – including starvation, prevent aid and targeting hospitals, schools and relief convoys – contributed to supporting international legal procedures, including cases brought before the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
The spokesman reminded that the Court of Justice has obligated Israel to take “backup measures” to ensure the arrival of aid and prevent starvation, but it has not committed these decisions yet.
With regard to the role assigned to the United Nations to protect Palestinian civilians, Al -Nsour stressed that the Commission continues to monitor violations, and annually issues about 10 reports documenting the violations of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank, from displacement and changing the reality on the ground to the violence of the settlers, adding that the complete separation between military actions and the distribution of humanitarian aid is “unjustified.”
UN shock
For her part, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravenna Shamdasani, expressed the shock of the UN institution from the continued prevention of the entry of aid to Gaza for “successive weeks”, considering the situation “unacceptable in any way.”
In statements to Al -Jazeera Net, Shamdasani explained that today’s “very limited” aid does not meet the minimum needs of the population, noting that the sector needs at least 600 aid trucks per day. She emphasized that thousands of children suffer from severe malnutrition in light of the lack of aid, and that the elderly and people with special needs are at risk of collective punishment, which it considered a clear violation of international law.
The UNHCR spokeswoman added that the accumulation of Israeli measures – from repeated displacement, constant bombardment and deprivation of livelihoods – may be classified as a “ethnic cleansing” actions against the Palestinians in Gaza.
This escalation comes in the United Nations criticism of Israel amid the continued aggression of the occupation on the Gaza Strip and the exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis in it, as about 2.3 civilians face a suffocating siege and an increasing deprivation of the basics of life.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights confirms that international and political pressure alone is the one that will compel Israel to comply with the decisions of the International Court of Justice and ensure the protection of the civilian population in the besieged sector.