UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk believes that the global community should attach great attention to preventing a regional conflict in the Middle East, APA reports.
"Ending that war and averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority," Turk said at the opening of the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
"Equally, the wider situation of illegality across the occupied Palestinian territory deriving from Israel’s policies and practices, as so clearly spelled out by the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion in July, must be comprehensively addressed," the high commissioner added.
Turk recalled the dire consequences of escalation in the occupied territories. "Since the horrific October 7 attacks claimed the lives of over 1,200 victims in Israel and injured many others, over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, several thousand injured, and thousands remain under the rubble in Gaza," the official said. According to him, "nearly 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced."
Eleven months later, 101 Israeli hostages are still held in the Gaza Strip. Nearly 10,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons or special military facilities, "with over 50 people having died due to inhumane conditions and ill-treatment." In the West Bank, Israel's "deadly and destructive operations" are exacerbating the "calamitous situation," Turk concluded.
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