As heavy Israeli bombardments continued to hit the Palestinian enclave on Thursday, dozens of the United Nations’ rights experts said Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip “amounts to collective punishment”.
The statement comes after Israel imposed a “total siege” to stop food and fuel from reaching the enclave of 2.3 million people, many poor and dependent on aid in response to a surprise Hamas offensive on Saturday that left 1,200 Israelis dead, according to officials.
In retaliatory air and artillery strikes, Israeli forces have flattened entire neighbourhoods, hospitals and schools in Gaza, killing 1,200 Palestinians since Saturday, and displacing more than 338,000. Yesterday, electricity went out after the only power station stopped working.
While condemning the “horrific crimes committed by Hamas”, the group said that Israel had resorted to “indiscriminate military attacks against the already exhausted Palestinian people of Gaza”.
“They have lived under unlawful blockade for 16 years, and already gone through five major brutal wars, which remain unaccounted for,” the group, which includes several UN special rapporteurs, said in a statement.
“This amounts to collective punishment. There is no justification for violence that indiscriminately targets innocent civilians, whether by Hamas or Israeli forces. This is absolutely prohibited under international law and amounts to a war crime,” the group said.
The group said that taking hostages in the context of hostilities also constituted a war crime.
“The civilians taken by Hamas must be immediately released, pending which their fate and whereabouts must be disclosed,” the experts said.
Pakistan condemns ‘indiscriminate, disproportionate’ Israeli force against Palestinians
Pakistan strongly condemned the “indiscriminate and disproportionate” use of force by Israeli authorities against the civilian population in Gaza and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch said in her weekly press briefing that Pakistan was deeply concerned by the fast deteriorating and dire humanitarian situation in Gaza due to the “inhumane blockade and collective punishment by Israeli forces”.
The FO spokesperson said that the decision to cut off electricity, fuel and water supplies was “unjust and should be reversed as it would severely impact the lives of millions of people in the enclave”.
“The current cycle of aggression and violence is a sad reminder and a direct consequence of over seven decades of illegal foreign occupation, aggression and disrespect for international law, including UNSC resolutions that recognise the inalienable right to self-determination of the Palestinian people,” she added.
The FO spokesperson said Pakistan had been constantly warning against serious consequences of Israel’s “escalatory and provocative actions in recent months”. She said the “unprecedented gravity of the situation demands urgent intervention by the international community”.
Pakistan urged the United Nations to play a proactive role in facilitating a ceasefire to alleviate the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“The international community must work in concert for a just comprehensive and lasting two-state solution with a viable, sovereign and contiguous state of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al Quds Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital. Peace in the Middle East will remain elusive in the absence of such a solution,” she said.
Blinken lands in Israel
US State Secretary Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv on Thursday as part of a Middle East tour to show Washington’s solidarity with Israel and to work to prevent the conflict from widening.
Blinken will also try to help secure the release of hostages allegedly kidnapped by Hamas some of whom are Americans and advance talks with Israelis and Egyptians on providing a safe passage of Gaza civilians out of the enclave before a possible Israeli ground invasion.
After Israel, Blinken will head to Jordan, where he will meet with King Abdullah and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
A senior State Department official, speaking to reporters on the condition of anonymity, said Washington was working to advance talks on providing a safe passage to civilians, including Americans in Gaza.
“There’s a community of something in the order of 500 to 600 Palestinian Americans, more or less, resident in Gaza. Some of them want to leave … and we are working to organise safe passage,” the official said.
The United States is talking “intensively” with Israeli and Egyptian governments to help arrange that, the official said.
Over 1,200 killed, 338,000 displaced in Gaza
The United Nations said more than 338,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip.
“Mass displacement across the Gaza Strip continues,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.
By late Wednesday, the number of displaced people in Gaza had risen by an additional 75,000 people from the figure given 24 hours earlier, reaching 338,934, it said.
In Gaza, officials reported more than 1,200 people have been killed in Israel’s sustained campaign of air and artillery strikes.
“The number of martyrs has risen to around 1,200, and the number of wounded to around 5,600,” a spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza said.
OCHA said nearly 220,000 people, or two-thirds of the displaced people, have sought shelter in schools run by the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Another nearly 15,000 people fled to schools run by the Palestinian Authority, while more than 100,000 were being sheltered by relatives, neighbours and a church and other facilities in Gaza City.
OCHA said that around 3,000 people had already been displaced within the enclave prior to Saturday’s attack.
The bombing campaign has destroyed or rendered uninhabitable at least 2,540 housing units in Gaza, OCHA said, citing numbers from the Gaza Ministry of Public Works and Housing.
Another 22,850 housing units sustained moderate to minor damage, it said.
The UN agency also voiced alarm at the significant destruction of civilian infrastructure damaged in the shelling.
Among other things, it said sewage facilities serving more than a million people had been hit by air strikes, leaving solid waste accumulating in the streets, posing a health threat.
Separately, UNRWA said that 12 colleagues had been killed in Gaza since October 7. “UN staff and civilians must be protected at all times,” it said in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 11 health workers had been killed over the course of their duties in Gaza, including nine paramedics, a doctor and a member of auxiliary health staff.
3 Chinese nationals killed
Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that three Chinese nationals have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“To my understanding it has currently been confirmed that three Chinese nationals were unfortunately killed in the conflict,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.
In addition, he said, “Two people are uncontactable and a number were injured”.
“We express our deepest condolences for the dead, and express our sincere sympathies for the families of the dead and for those who were injured,” Wang said.
“China’s relevant diplomatic organisations abroad are currently engaging in all-out efforts to coordinate the rescue and treatment of those injured, and making arrangements for those who died,” he added.
“We urge external parties to put full effort into searching for and rescuing the uncontactable people, and take all effective measures to safeguard the safety of Chinese personnel and organisations,” Wang said.
Saudi prince, Iran president hold call
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and Iran’s president spoke by phone about the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Saudi state media said early on Thursday, their first call since a surprise rapprochement in March.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a call on Wednesday from the Iranian leader, Ebrahim Raisi, during which they discussed “the current military situation in Gaza and its environs”, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.
Prince Mohammed told Raisi that Riyadh is “communicating with all international and regional parties to stop the ongoing escalation”, SPA said.
He also stressed “the kingdom’s firm position towards supporting the Palestinian cause”, it said.
Iranian state news agency IRNA also reported on the call, saying the two men discussed the “need to end war crimes against Palestine”.
Prince Mohammed also spoke by phone on Wednesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during which the 38-year-old Saudi leader said he was “exerting unremitting efforts through regional and international communication to achieve coordination that pushes for a halt of the current escalation”.
Iran calls on Islamic, Arab countries to confront Israel
Raisi has called on Islamic and Arab countries to cooperate in confronting Israel as it wages a deadly war triggered by Hamas’ surprise move last week.
“Today, all the Islamic and Arab countries and all the free people of the world must reach a serious convergence and cooperation in the path of stopping the crimes of the Zionist regime against the oppressed Palestinian nation,” Raisi told his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in a phone call late Wednesday.
Raisi stated that in order to stop the “genocide of the Palestinians by the Zionists”, Iran will coordinate with Islamic countries “as soon as possible”, the Iranian presidency website said on Thursday.
Iran on Saturday celebrated the offensive in Israel, though it insisted it was not involved in it.
During his call with Assad, Raisi also lashed out at Arab countries that have recently normalised or are in discussion to establish ties with Israel.
“Today, all those who made public their relations with the Zionist regime under the pretext of defending the rights of the Palestinians were disgraced, and it has been proven to the whole world that the Zionist regime is in its weakest state,” Raisi said.
During the call, Assad similarly emphasised the “necessity of rapid action at the Arab and Islamic levels to protect the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip, and to stop the Israeli raids targeting children and women”.
Brazil calls UN Security Council meeting
Brazil, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council (UNSC), called a Friday meeting of the body to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, its foreign affairs ministry said.
Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira has interrupted an Asia trip to travel “to New York to participate in a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, called by Brazil… to address the situation in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said in a statement.
Brazil previously called an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Sunday, the day after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. At Sunday’s Security Council meeting, members were divided over policy concerning Israel and the Palestinians.
Earlier on Wednesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for urgent international action to protect both Palestinian and Israeli civilians, especially children.
“Children must never be held hostage, anywhere in the world,” Lula wrote on social media platform X.
“Hamas needs to free the Israeli children who were kidnapped from their families. Israel needs to stop its bombing so Palestinian children and their mothers can leave the Gaza Strip via the Egyptian border,” he said.
“There needs to be a minimum of humanity in the insanity of war,” he said.
Nato urges Israel to respond with ‘proportionality’ in Gaza
Nato countries told Israel’s defence minister they stood by his country after the offensive by Hamas, but urged his forces to respond with “proportionality”, the alliance said.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant briefed his counterparts from the US-led military alliance via video link as his country’s military carries out a bombing campaign.
“Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Nato condemned the terrorist attacks in the strongest possible terms, adding: ‘Israel does not stand alone’,” Nato said in a statement.
“Allies expressed solidarity with Israel, making clear that it has the right to defend itself with proportionality against these unjustifiable acts of terror.”
Nato countries “called for Hamas to immediately release all hostages, and for the fullest possible protection of civilians. Allies also made clear that no nation or organisation should seek to take advantage of the situation or to escalate it.”
The statement added that “a number of Nato allies made clear that they are providing practical support to Israel as it continues to respond to the situation”.
British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps insisted on Thursday that Israel was “going after the terrorists” in Gaza. “They are not by design attacking civilians,” he told journalists at NATO headquarters. “That’s a very, very important, critical difference that I think the whole world needs to understand. “
Rockets fired at Tel Aviv after Israeli strikes
Hamas fighters on Thursday fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv in response to Israeli air strikes that targeted civilians in two Gaza refugee camps, the Palestinian group said.
“Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades fired rockets at Tel Aviv in response to (Israeli strikes) targeting civilians in Al-Shati and Jabalia camps,” Hamas said, referring to its armed wing, in a text message sent to journalists.
AFP correspondents witnessed dozens of air strikes over 30 minutes on Thursday morning in the direction of Al-Shati camp and in the blockaded strip’s north.
“The occupation (Israeli forces) committed massacres this morning in Al-Shati camp and Jabalia camp, leaving dozens of martyrs and injured,” Iyad al-Buzum, spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry, told AFP.
AFP journalists saw at least seven dead bodies and six buildings destroyed in Al-Shati camp.
