Geneva - Gaza: Europe and the Arabs
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, said the scale and severity of the devastation in Gaza is “far worse than what happened in Aleppo and Mariupol or even Dresden and Rotterdam during World War II.”
It is noteworthy that the European cities of Dresden and Rotterdam were subjected to heavy bombing during World War II, which led to widespread destruction, the death and injury of tens of thousands, and the displacement of many. According to what was stated in the daily news bulletin of the United Nations, a copy of which we received this Wednesday morning.
Presenting his report before the Human Rights Council yesterday, Tuesday, Mr. Rajagopal said that the current crisis in Gaza “shocks the conscience of humanity.” He noted that since October 7, more than 70 percent of the total housing stock in Gaza, and more than 80 percent in parts of northern Gaza, has been damaged or destroyed, and more than 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes in the Strip.
He added that more than a million people are crowded in Rafah, severely lacking adequate shelter during the winter, and facing famine and disease. He added: "Everything that makes housing 'adequate' - access to services, jobs or culture, schools and religious places, universities and hospitals - has all been leveled."
The independent UN expert stressed that many conflicts around the world have increasingly witnessed “systematic or widespread, massive and arbitrary destruction” of housing and civilian infrastructure, all of which constitute a flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. However, he stressed that the scale and severity of the destruction In Gaza it is much worse.
“When people lose their homes, they lose more than just the physical structures: a home is more than just a property. It is also a repository of memories, hopes and aspirations,” he said.
The Special Rapporteur reminded the Human Rights Council of his call, along with other UN experts, to stop arms transfers to Israel, which “are being used to destroy housing and displace residents in Gaza.” “Such arms transfers risk complicity in systematic violations of the right to adequate housing, which may constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or acts of genocide under international law,” he added.
In the same context, independent UN experts in the field of human rights condemned the shooting by Israeli forces into crowds of Palestinians who gathered to obtain flour in southwest Gaza City last week, killing at least 112 people and wounding about 760 others.
In a statement yesterday, Tuesday, independent UN experts described this incident as a “massacre” in the midst of inevitable famine conditions and the destruction of the local food production system in the besieged Palestinian Strip.
The experts said, "Israel has been deliberately starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since October 8. It is now targeting civilians searching for humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys." The experts stressed the need for Israel to put an end to what they described as a campaign of starvation and targeting of civilians, adding that the attack came in the wake of Israel preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza City and northern Gaza for more than a month.
"A pattern of Israeli attacks"
The independent experts said that “the massacre that occurred on February 29 followed a pattern of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians requesting assistance,” with more than 14 incidents of shooting, shelling and targeting of groups gathering to receive urgently needed aid from trucks or landings. Weather, in the period between mid-January and the end of February.
The experts added, "Israel also opened fire on humanitarian aid convoys on several occasions, even though the convoys shared their coordinates with Israel."
“Israel does not respect its international legal obligations”
“On 26 January, the International Court of Justice reasonably established that Israel had committed genocide and ordered that essential services and urgently needed humanitarian assistance be allowed to be delivered to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” the independent experts stated.
In January, before the court's decision was issued, about 147 trucks were entering the Gaza Strip daily. Since the ruling was issued, only 57 trucks have entered Gaza during the period from 9 to 21 February 2024, according to experts.
The experts said that Israel "does not respect its international legal obligations, does not comply with the interim measures of the International Court of Justice, and commits brutal crimes." They added, "Israel systematically prevents and restricts the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza by intercepting aid deliveries at checkpoints, bombing humanitarian aid convoys, and shooting civilians requesting humanitarian assistance."
It is noteworthy that special rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, which is an intergovernmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world. Rapporteurs and experts are tasked with studying human rights situations and submitting reports on them to the Human Rights Council. It should be noted that this position is honorary, and these experts are not considered employees of the United Nations and do not receive compensation for their work.