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‘Never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza’: UN chief
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said in an interview with the AP news agency that the United Nations has offered to monitor any ceasefire in Gaza and demanded an end to what he termed as the worst death and destruction he has seen during his tenure.
Guterres said it is “unrealistic” to think the UN could play a role in Gaza’s future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept that.
But, he said, “the UN will be available to support any ceasefire”.
“The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary-general of the United Nations. I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months.”
The war has so far killed more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian detainees could amount to ‘sexualized torture’: UN representative
The United Nations’ special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict Pramila Patten has said that “disturbing reports of sexual violence and other inhuman and degrading treatment” being perpetrated against Palestinian prisoners “could amount to sexualized torture”.
In a statement, the UN representative said Palestinian men and women are reportedly being subject to “widespread sexual slurs and threats of rape and gang rape, repeated and humiliating strip searches and prolonged forced nudity, beatings and electrocution of genitals and anus, insertion of objects into detainees’ anuses, inappropriate touching of women by both male and female soldiers, and photographing or filming of naked or partially undressed detainees in humiliating positions.”
Special Representative Patten recalled the reported recent case of the Palestinian male detainee who was hospitalised in July with severe injuries including to his rectum, due to sexual violence allegedly perpetrated in the Sde Teiman military base.
“I am particularly concerned about recent attempts by some Israeli political actors, to interfere with ongoing justice processes and/or to justify the use of these methods. Sexual violence and sexualized torture in detention settings must never be normalised,” she said.
