Almost a week ago, the Israeli occupation forces renewed its offensive in northern Gaza and intensified its air and ground campaign against Lebanon.
UN investigators accused Israel of deliberately targeting healthcare facilities in Gaza, as well as killing and torturing medical workers, stating that these actions amount to "crimes against humanity."
Gaza’s healthcare system is facing a deliberate, calculated attack. According to a recent report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel is "committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities."
The Commission's findings raise pressing questions about the potential long-term impacts on Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure and the broader humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region. What consequences could this have for the people of Gaza, and how will the international community respond to these accusations of war crimes?
“Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” said Navi Pillay, whose report will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 30.
Pillay called on Israel to “immediately stop” its “wanton destruction of healthcare facilities in Gaza.”
The Commission of Inquiry bases its findings on various sources, including interviews with victims and witnesses, submissions, and satellite imagery.
Residents in northern Gaza once again reported not receiving supplies since the beginning of the month, leading to the emergence of hunger. Over 400,000 people still live there. Haq added, “No food aid has entered since October 1.”
“Aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months, and no one in Gaza has received food parcels this month due to constrained access to aid supplies,” a UN spokesman said.
The UN Secretary-General’s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the “World Food Programme (WFP) reports that critical aid lifelines into northern Gaza have been cut off.”
WFP explained that food distribution locations were shut down in northern Gaza because of Israeli military operations and evacuation orders in the devastating Israeli war that has been ongoing in Gaza for over a year.
Haq said the situation in the South is also “at breaking point,” stressing that no food distributions are taking place while bakeries are struggling to secure wheat flour, putting them at risk of shutting down any day.
The Commission called for the immediate provision of life-saving humanitarian aid to all those affected and for the international community to ensure this access.
They demanded prioritizing respect for international law and human rights without discrimination or double standards, swiftly guiding the moral compass toward justice and freedom for all, and renewing commitment to global peace, which will not be achieved until everyone has the opportunity to live with equal dignity and independence.
Experts affirmed that the international community's failure to secure a ceasefire and hold all those responsible for heinous crimes, or complicit in them, accountable has not only allowed the unprecedented brutality to continue but has also expanded it to the broader region, igniting violence and destruction in Lebanon.