The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet today expressed her concern at the number of Palestinian children killed in recent days and called for those responsible to be held accountable.
Last week, 19 Palestinian children were killed, bringing the death toll to 37 since the beginning of the year, according to the UNHCR. Seventeen were killed during hostilities in Gaza from August 5 to 7, and two more were killed on August 9 during Israeli operations in the West Bank.
“The large number of children killed or injured this year is unacceptable,” Bachelet said in a statement.
On August 5, the Israeli military launched what it called a “preemptive” operation in the Gaza Strip against Islamic Jihad, killing the main military leaders of the militant Islamist group in Gaza, as well as several of its fighters.
“The cost of civilian casualties during the latest escalation in Gaza, from 5 to 7 August, was heavy,” according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Bachelet’s agencies were able to verify that among the 48 Palestinians killed, there were at least 22 civilians, including 17 children and 4 women.
Of the 360 Palestinians reported injured, nearly two-thirds of them were civilians, including 151 children, 58 women and 19 elderly.
The Israeli military maintains that Palestinians, including children, were killed by rockets fired by Islamic Jihad into Israeli territory but mistakenly landed in the Palestinian enclave.
According to the UNHCR, some Israeli shelling hit property that apparently belonged to civilians.
“Such attacks must stop,” Bachelet said.
She also accused Palestinian armed groups of firing hundreds of rockets in “indiscriminate” attacks, causing civilian casualties and destroying civilian property in Israel and Gaza.
The High Commissioner called for immediate, independent, impartial, thorough and transparent investigations into all incidents where people were killed or injured.
“An almost complete lack of accountability remains (…) whether for violations of international humanitarian law committed by all parties to the hostilities in Gaza, or for repeated Israeli violations of international law and human rights in the West Bank, including the East Jerusalem,” added Bachelet.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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