United Nation human rights chief Volker Türk, has issued a strong appeal for the ceasefire in Gaza to hold amid delays to talks between Hamas and Israel on extending the truce into the second phase.
Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva on conditions inside the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Türk condemned the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel that sparked the war in October 2023.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also said there was no justification for Israel’s devastating military operations in Gaza, which has left more than 48,000 Palestinians dead, according to local authorities.
He added that each phase of the ceasefire must be implemented in good faith, and in full, as Türk maintained that there were serious doubts over Israel’s capacity and will to deliver full accountability, notably in relation to unlawful killings in Gaza and the West Bank.
According to news reports, the delayed release by Israel of Palestinian prisoners is expected to go ahead imminently, in exchange for the return of the bodies of four hostages.
With Hamas and other Palestinian militants who have taken and tortured hostages, fired indiscriminate projectiles into Israel, amounting to war crimes, as there are concerns that they may also have committed serious breaches including the intentional co-location of military objectives and Palestinian civilians.
Meanwhile, investigators tasked by the UN Human Rights Council to track alleged grave abuses of power by top Nicaraguan officials insisted that the International Court of Justice, ICJ, should prosecute what they called the systematic and systemic repression of the country’s people.
