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Nearly 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according
to Gaza health officials, since Israel unleashed a military
campaign in response to cross-border attacks by Hamas militants
on Oct. 7, 2023 in which 1,200 people were killed and a further
250 taken hostage.
"Ending that war and averting a full-blown regional conflict is
an absolute and urgent priority," the U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights Volker Turk said in a speech at the opening of the
U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"States must not – cannot – accept blatant disregard for
international law, including binding decisions of the (U.N.)
Security Council and orders of the International Court of
Justice, neither in this nor any other situation."
He cited an opinion released by the U.N. top court in July that
called Israel's occupation illegal and said this situation must
be "comprehensively addressed". Israel has rejected the opinion
and called it one-sided.
Turk's comments were given in a broad speech marking the mid-way
point of his four-year term as U.N. rights chief where he
described massive challenges around the world and a crisis of
political leadership.
"In every region around the world, we see deep-seated power
dynamics at play to grab or hold on to power, at the expense of
universal human rights," he said at the start of the five-week
session where rights violations in Sudan, Afghanistan and
Ukraine will also be debated.
(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Miranda Murray and Angus
MacSwan)
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