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UN rights chief speaks out on Israel’s attacks on Iran, war on Gaza
Volker Turk has expressed deep concern over the exchange of fire between Israel and Iran and urged them to engage in “urgent diplomatic negotiations to end these attacks and find a way forward”.
“The military escalation between Israel and Iran is deeply worrying,” the UN rights chief said as he presented his annual report to the 59th Human Rights Council in Geneva. He also called “for full respect of international law by both sides, in particular the protection of civilians in densely populated areas”.
Separately, the UN high commissioner for human rights slammed Israel’s conduct in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“Israel’s means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza,” he said.
“Israel has weaponised food and blocked lifesaving aid. I urge immediate, impartial investigations into deadly attacks on desperate civilians to reach food distribution centres,” he added. “Disturbing, dehumanising rhetoric from senior Israeli government officials is reminiscent of the gravest of crimes.”
Israel raids prison cells in crackdown on Palestinian inmates "celebrating" Iranian attacks
Israel said it had raided its prison cells after officials heard inmates making “expressions of joy” during a round of Iranian airstrikes against Israel.
“During the recent round of fighting, sounds of celebration were heard from criminal inmates who are residents of the Palestinian territories” in a prison in central Israel, the country’s prison service said Sunday.
It said the prison service’s elite “Metzada” unit had been called in to raid the cells and remove those involved.
In a video shared by the prison services, armed troops were seen storming a prison, pointing guns at inmates as they took cover on the floor of their cell. One of the men was seen lying face down as an officer bound his hands with a zip tie. Another man was blindfolded. Several men were then marched out of their cells, hunched over, with their arms tied behind their backs.
The prison service said the inmates were brought before a disciplinary tribunal and “subsequently disciplined,” without saying how.
It said the operation was carried out as part of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s “zero tolerance” policy for expressing support for Israel’s adversaries.
During a visit to Petah Tikva, the central Israeli city where four people were killed in overnight Iranian attacks, Ben Gvir on Monday reiterated that authorities will crack down on anyone making “displays of joy” over Iran’s strikes on Israel.
“There is zero tolerance on this matter. The police have arrested quite a few people, and I back them — this is precisely my policy,” Ben Gvir said Monday.
The far-right minister referenced the “images” of prison guards entering cells with shotguns to “restore order” in the prisons. “This is the policy I want,” he said. “Zero tolerance for displays of joy. Zero tolerance for those who support Iran. Support for Iran is support for terror, and anyone who supports terror must be detained.”
