The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said that there are no limits and no words that can describe the horrors unfolding before the eyes in Gaza, and that more than 100,000 people have been killed or injured in Gaza since early last October, with nearly one in every 20 children, women, and men now dying or being injured.

Türk affirmed in his speech today, Thursday, during the interactive dialogue at the Human Rights Council currently holding its fifty-fifth session in Geneva, that what happened and is happening in Gaza is a massacre, pointing out that no less than 17,000 children have been orphaned or separated from their families, while many others will carry scars of physical and emotional trauma for life, at a time when tens of thousands of people are missing and it is assumed that many of them are buried under the rubble of their homes.

He pointed out that the Israeli response to the attacks of October 7 and 8 — which were shocking and unjustified — was brutal, as well as the unprecedented level of killing and mutilation of civilians in Gaza, including United Nations staff and journalists, and the catastrophic humanitarian crisis resulting from restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid, the displacement of at least three-quarters of the population multiple times often, and the massive destruction of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure — and in many cases the systematic destruction of entire neighborhoods, making Gaza largely uninhabitable, stressing that it is time for peace, investigation, and accountability.

He said that over 56 years of Israeli occupation, highly discriminatory control systems have been imposed on the Palestinians to restrict their rights, including the right to movement, which has had a significant impact on equality, housing, health, work, education, and family life, while the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for 16 years has effectively kept most of the 2.2 million residents of the sector in captivity, destroyed the local economy, and the situation today has become incomparably worse.

He continued that the report submitted to the Council is extremely painful to read, pointing out that Israel dropped tons of ammunition on Gaza, including the repeated use of explosive weapons with wide-ranging effects that release a huge shockwave of high pressure that can cause the tearing of internal organs, in addition to shrapnel projectiles and intense heat causing deep burns which have been used in densely populated residential neighborhoods, noting that he saw in Al-Arish hospital in Egypt last November children whose bodies had been burned, confirming that he will never forget that.

The High Commissioner said that his office recorded over the past five months of war many incidents that may amount to war crimes by Israeli forces, as well as indications that Israeli forces engaged in indiscriminate or disproportionate targeting that violates international humanitarian law, while the firing of random rockets by Palestinian armed groups across southern Israel and even Tel Aviv also violates international humanitarian law, as does the continued detention of hostages.

He added that the siege imposed on Gaza amounts to collective punishment and may amount to the use of starvation as a method of warfare, both of which if committed intentionally constitute war crimes, warning clearly that the possibility of an Israeli ground offensive on Rafah would move the nightmare experienced by people in Gaza to a new bitter dimension after more than 1.5 million people took refuge in Rafah.

He said that a ground attack would lead to heavy loss of life, noting that he cannot see how an operation such as the attack on Rafah could be consistent with the binding provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice, calling on all states with influence to do everything within their power to avoid such an outcome.

Türk said that more than 7,000 Palestinians have been arbitrarily arrested since October 7 in the occupied West Bank, and there are currently about 9,000 detainees considered security prisoners, including more than 3,400 held under administrative detention without charge or prospect of trial, in addition to at least 606 detainees held in isolation from the outside world.

The High Commissioner stressed that keeping Palestinians and their rights isolated, out of sight and out of mind, has not succeeded for 56 years and will never succeed — pointing out that the main challenge to building peace is that everyone must see and fully understand the humanity of the other and overcome mindsets carved by generations of harm and anger.