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SvennoJ on 12 January 2024
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Israel has shown ‘recurring failures’ to uphold international law: UN

The UN human rights office says Israel had repeatedly failed to uphold international humanitarian law during its war on Gaza. “We’ve repeatedly highlighted Israel’s recurring failures to uphold the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality and precautions in carrying out attacks,” said Elizabeth Throssell , spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UHCHR).

“The High Commissioner has stressed that breaches of these obligations risk exposure to liability for war crimes and has also warned of the risks of other atrocity crimes.”

At least 330 killed while sheltering in UNRWA facilities

The UNRWA has reported that at least 330 people have been killed while sheltering in its facilities in the besieged Gaza Strip since the start of the war. It said there have been 230 instances of its premises and people sheltering inside coming under attack since the start of the war, with 66 different installations directly hit.

The organisation has said from about 2.3 million people living in the Strip, at least 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering in its facilities, with another half a million staying in areas close to them.



UN says Israeli denials of access ‘paralysing’ Gaza aid

The latest report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the organisation’s aid efforts are affected by Israel’s denials of access.

In the first 11 days of the year, only five out of 24 planned aid deliveries of food, medicines, water and other lifesaving supplies to the north of Wadi Gaza proceeded. “Humanitarian partners were forced to cancel or delay missions in two instances due to excessive delays at Israeli checkpoints or because the agreed routes were unpassable,” it said, adding that only two of the five missions that were allowed in were able to fully deliver their aid.

“The ability of humanitarian partners to respond to the extensive needs in the northern part of Gaza is being curtailed by recurring denials of access for aid deliverers and lack of coordinated safe access by the Israeli authorities. These denials and severe access constraints paralyse the ability of humanitarian partners to respond meaningfully, consistently and at-scale.”



One percent of Gaza’s child population killed

After nearly 100 days of war in Gaza, more than 10,000 children – or 1 percent of the total child population on the Strip – have been killed, according to a new report by Save The Children. Children surviving the war are “enduring unspeakable horrors, including life-changing injuries, burns, disease, inadequate medical care, and losing their parents and other loved ones”, says the report.

Out of the thousands of injured children, at least 1,000 have lost one or both their legs, the report says. More than 10 children have lost at least one or both legs each day since the war began, with many of the amputations performed without anaesthesia.